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THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME 

Showing the nth battalion of the King's own Yorkshire Light 
Infantry on the morning of July 1st. ,1916. In the trenches the 
wounded men are trying to make their way back to where they 
will receive medical aid. 



WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

Being a very egotistical account of my own personal 
experiences and observations from the early days 
of the war in Belgium to the Great Battle of the 
Somme in July, 1916 




^ta^ 



CfifpJ^> 




SKRVINC; THE BIG GUNS AT THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME 
During an intense bombardment the men strip to the waist 
order to have greater freedom of action. 



WHEN the SOMME 
RAN RED 



BY 

A. RADCLYFFE DIJGMORE, F.R.G.S, F.R.P.S. 

TEMP. CAPTAIN KING'S OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY. 

AUTHOR OF "BIRD HOMES," "CAMERA ADVENTURES IN THE 

AFRICAN WILDS," "THE ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER," 

"THE ROMANCE OF THE CARIBOU," ETC., ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 






COPYRIGHT, 1918, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

JUN -6 1918 
©CI.A497649 



••H^ 



AS A TOKEN OF ADMIRATION THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
WITH ALL HUMILITY TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY 

OF THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE 

KING'S OWN YORKSHIRE LIGHT INFANTRY 

WHO FELL IN THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, AND 

TO THE OTHERS WHO MADE THE SUPREME 

SACRIFICE IN THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY 



FOREWORD 

THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE SOMME IN RELATION 
TO THE BRITISH OFFENSIVE OF 1916 

When the Germans undertook their great 
offensive against France in 1914 their plan was, 
of course, to overrun with the utmost speed, a 
sufficiently large area of the country to ensure 
an almost immediate and complete victory. 
Paris was the first important objective. The 
attainment of this was to have been followed 
rapidly by a drive against the sea-port towns on 
the English Channel, with the obvious effect of 
preventing Great Britain from coming to the as- 
sistance of her ally. In planning this ambitious 
scheme of conquest the German strategists real- 
ized the possibility of failure and selected as their 
strategic line of defense, in case they were forced 
^back from Paris, the region east of the Somme 
'and northward from Curlu, taking in the line 
which included the villages of Mametz, Fricourt, 
La Boisselle, Ovillers, Thiepval, Beaumont, 
Hamel, Gommecourt, and on in a more or less 
northerly direction to the coast. 



viii FOREWORD 

This line was chosen with the greatest possible 
skill. It followed the series of ridges and hills 
and thus gave command of the country to the 
west ; in other words, any attack against the Ger- 
mans would have to be made uphill, always 
a difficult undertaking. Besides the natural 
strength of the position the line was made still 
more secure by the employment of every device 
known to military science, so that it was re- 
garded as an almost impregnable system of 
trenches. This then was the line we were to at- 
tack in July, 1916, largely with the idea of 
relieving the pressure that was being exerted 
against Verdun. 

In the following pages I have attempted to 
give some idea of how at least on one part of the 
front, the offensive was carried out. It was 
written before the recent gigantic German at- 
tacks, which, unfortunately, have succeeded in 
forcing us back to a line which in part is west 
of the position we occupied in June, 1916. 
Whether or not we could have avoided yielding 
this ground I am not in a position to know, but 
there is every reason to believe that to have held 
our line would have involved the sacrifice of such 
an immense number of lives that it was consid- 
ered wiser to give up the ground, at the same 



FOREWORD ix 

time making the Germans pay a toll in lives out 
of all proportion to the value of the territory 
they have gained. 

Whether or not this is Germany's final effort 
none of us can tell. The common idea is that if 
it fails the German people will demand peace, 
as they will be sickened by the ghastly slaughter, 
which has surpassed anything the world has ever 
known. This theory is not generally believed by 
those who are in the best position to judge, so 
it is not wise for us to make plans based on the 
supposition that peace is near. Such action 
would mean the delaying of the most necessary 
war preparations, and this is exactly what the 
Germans are most anxious to have happen. It 
is the work of their propagandists to make people 
believe that the war will very soon be finished, so 
that we shall slow down on the manufacturing 
of war material and the training of men. It is 
well, therefore, to guard against all stories deal- 
ing with early peace, and if possible try to trace 
the origin of such stories. The source will in 
nearly all cases be found to be German, or what 
is equally vile, pacifist, for the pacifist is quite as 
dangerous as the pro-German in our midst. He 
would have us, among other things, conclude a 
shameful peace on any terms, he would have us 



X FOREWORD 

barter our heritage of liberty and freedom for 
whatever disgraceful form of govermnent the 
unprincipled military power of Germany would 
impose on us, so that those who have died for our 
cause would have died in vain. 

Unfortunately so little information has been 
given to the public regarding the exact position 
occupied by the Allies at the present time that it 
is extremely difficult to form any accurate opin- 
ion of the situation. Apparently the Germans 
are in possession of the country east of a line 
running south from Bailleul to Mourlancourt, 
from which point it appears to swing slightly 
westerly, curving round to Montdidier. Albert is 
in the hands of the enemy, and the famous statue 
of the leaning Virgin, mentioned in another chap- 
ter, has probably already been melted down for 
the purpose of making munitions. From Albert 
to Corbie runs the little river Ancre, which is bor- 
dered by more or less swampy ground from Ville 
to where it joins the Somme. On either side of 
the valley is high rolling ground, most of which 
is under cultivation, with patches of woodland 
here and there. It is ideal country for open 
warfare. Judging from the accounts that have 
been published, I am inclined to believe that we 
still hold the north side of the valley as far as 



FOREWORD xi 

Heilly, or perhaps a little farther toward Corbie, 
but whether we are in possession of the high 
ground which overlooks the town from the east 
and south I do not know. Everything depends 
on this, as these hills completely dominate the 
town. Should Corbie fall, the position of 
Amiens will be very serious and for many rear- 
sons the Germans are most anxious to force us 
out of this important town and railway centre. 

From Corbie to Amiens there is a wide belt of 
low and somewhat swampy land following the 
river. This is controlled to some extent by a 
range of hills on the north side and to a less ex- 
tent by lower rolling ground on the south, so that 
unless the Huns cross the Somme, and attempt 
to outflank us, the attack on Amiens would be 
difficult and very costly. It is quite impossible 
to make predictions with any degree of accu- 
racy, but though the situation at the present 
moment is serious, the optimistic tone of the 
French and British commanders as expressed in 
the newspapers should give us reason to believe 
that the great German offensive is doomed to 
ultimate failure, even though it gains a consider- 
able amount of territory. 

From a sentimental point of view we feel very 
deeply having to yield ground that was won at 



xii FOREWORD 

such a terrible cost in lives and energy; to those 
of us who took part in the 1916 advance it is a 
very great blow, for we believed that if once the 
Bapaume region was taken we would be able to 
hold it against any forces the Germans could 
bring against us. Through the greater part of 
the regained area the work of reconstruction had 
been carried on with the utmost energy. The 
shell-torn ground was being levelled and made 
ready for cultivation, roads were repaired and 
railways laid. And now, not only has all this 
work been either destroyed or taken over by the 
Germans, but many villages, which hitherto had 
been peacefully occupied by the French people, 
who had always treated us with such kindness, 
have been wrested from us, and the chances are 
very great that the wretched people will never 
again see anything but the ruined remains of their 
former homes. 

Apart from the actual material loss there is 
the terrible thought that the graves of our poor 
Dead are desecrated by the very presence of the 
Hun. At least we had hoped that the bodies of 
those who made the Great Sacrifice for the cause 
of Right might have been allowed to rest undis- 
turbed in their simple graves. But such ap- 
parently was not to be, and we can only pray that 



FOREWORD xiii 

the time is not far distant when the Hun and all 
he stands for shall be driven forever from the soil 
of France and Belgium. Before that day comes 
we must expect to go through periods of great 
strain and anxiety. Our endurance will perhaps 
be tested almost to the point of breaking, but the 
knowledge of the righteousness of our cause, of 
the greatness of our resources, and above all, the 
wonderful spirit and determination of our men, 
who are engaged in the fighting, and the no less 
wonderful spirit of those who, though forced to 
remain at home, are so generously backing up the 
fighting forces, make ultimate victory a matter 
of certainty. The Hun can never triumph. Even 
though he were to force us out of France; even 
though he were to capture Paris, that will not 
bring him nearer to victory. So long as a drop 
of living blood remains in France and Great 
Britain the war must continue. America's gi- 
gantic preparations are bearing fruit, her limit- 
less resources will, as time goes on, make her 
powder more and more a factor in the task of 
defeating the Hun. She has championed the 
cause of World freedom, and she will not rest 
until that cause has been won, and adequate 
measures taken to ensure a lasting peace, a peace 
which will guarantee safety for even the smallest 



xiv FOREWORD 

and most helpless of nations. We owe nothing 
less than this to our heroic Dead, and we should 
never dare look on the little White Crosses that 
mark their last resting places if we failed in this 
sacred obligation. 

A. R. D. 



CONTENTS 

PART ONE 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I In Belgium — a Prisoner 19 

II Wounded at Alost 43 

III In England — from Civilian to Soldier . 59 

PART TWO 

IV Rejoining My Battalion 73 

V First View of the Trenches .... 83 

VI AtBecordel — Strafed 94 

VII In the Front Line Trenches . . . . 115 

VIII Preparing for the Great Offensive . . 142 

IX Hell Let Loose 176 

X Battle OF the SoMME — ^The Great Day . 189 

XI A Bad Night Among the Shells . . . 208 

XII Captured Ijnes and Prisoners . . . 218 

XIII The Toll OF Battle 234 

XIV Rest — ^and Return to the "Show" . . 250 
XV A Hot Corner — Gassed 264 

XVI The Pivot 281 

XV 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Serving the Big Guns Frontispiece 

PAGES 

German Metrailleuse (Machine Gun) ... 54 

Billets! Tommy Always Cheerful Manages to 
Make Himself Comfortable 78 

Aeroplane Photograph Showing the Opposing 
Lines of Trenches Near Fricourt . . . 110 

Aeroplane Photograph Showing Part of the 
German Lines 110 

Message Sent by Author from Brigade Head- 
quarters 128 

Magnetic Compass Bearings Laid Out . . . 128 

List of Work to be Done by the Company Which 
Relieved the Author 128 

Description of Enemy's Attitude as Experi- 
enced by the Author 128 

A Typical Scene on the Roads Immediately Back 
OF the Front Line 140 

Part of Actual Map Used During the Battle 
of the somme 176 

Sketch of Trenches Occupied by the Author . 176 

Scaling Ladders Being Put in Position . . . 196 

xvii 



xviii ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGES 

During the Advance, the Men March Across 
No Man's Land at Slow Speed 206 

Wave After Wave of Infantry Streamed Across 206 

The German Front Line Trenches Near Fri- 
court 224 

A British Tommy Leading a Wounded Hun . . 234 

Part of Map Taken from Dead German Officer 256 

A Tank Crushing Down Barbed Wire Entangle- 
ments 272 



WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 



PART I 

CHAPTER I 

In Belgium — a Prisoner 

Before dealing with my somewhat limited ex- 
periences and impressions of the Great War I 
feel that a word of explanation as to how at my 
age I happened to give up my peaceful occupa- 
tion as a private citizen and join the army will 
not be altogether out of place, especially as it re- 
lates to that ghastly period of the war, the devas- 
tation of Belgium. 

It will be remembered that within a few days 
after Great Britain's declaration of war against 
Germany accounts of the atrocities committed by 
the invaders of Belgium were circulated through- 
out the country. We were incredulous at first, 
no one believed that a great nation could be 
guilty of the horrors attributed to Germany, and 
yet evidence was not lacking to show that the 
worst stories were to a great extent true. 
Throughout my life, which has been devoted to 

19 



aO WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the study of outdoor natural history, I have al- 
ways found it advisable to see before believing, 
in other words to verify reports before regarding 
them as facts. Thus it happened that on August 
14th, 1914, I made my way to Belgium armed 
with a camera and a large and most imposing 
British passport. 

Ostend was my first objective, and I found the 
famous watering place in a very peaceful condi- 
tion, but there was a great deal of suppressed 
excitement, and the conversation was only of the 
war and what the Germans were doing in other 
and less fortunate parts of the country. The 
town was more or less bedecked with the flags 
of the Allies, and various proclamations regard- 
ing the duties of the people and other matters, 
together with coloured posters of the uniforms 
of friendly and enemy soldiers were conspicuous 
in every street. Later on refugees from various 
parts of the invaded country drifted into Ostend, 
and arrangements were hastily made to feed and 
house the unfortunate homeless people. Private 
individuals as well as the Red Cross undertook 
this work of relief, but it put a great strain on 
the resources of the town. There was a rumour 
that Brussels was to be taken, so I went there and 
found the amusing, even pitiful, spectacle of ridi- 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 21 

culous little barricades thrown across various 
main streets. These were guarded by members 
of the Garde Civique, The whole thing struck 
me as being absurd, to think that such childish 
efforts could stay the troops of the most highly 
organised military organisation the world had 
ever known. Reason fortunately prevailed and 
these futile preparations were abandoned. Six- 
teen hours after I left the city the Germans en- 
tered, so I missed the great but lamentable sight. 
I returned to Ostend in time for a small taste 
of excitement when a few Uhlans made what was 
apparently a reconnaissance of the town. They 
were warmly received by the Belgians who met 
and engaged them on the outskirts. The town 
was in a badly frightened condition. Allied flags 
were hastily concealed. All who could were 
flocking to the steamer landing in hopes of get- 
ting away to England. Frantic efforts were 
made to get hold of money, English gold realising 
as much as 35 francs for the sovereign. I was 
eating my breakfast at the Hotel Maritime when 
the excitement outside in the square suggested a 
new development of affairs. A few minutes later 
some Belgian soldiers passed through the dining- 
room, leading a highly indignant German officer 
on whose arm was the sign of the Red Cross. It 



22 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

appeared that he had been caught red-handed 
in the act of trying to shoot some Belgians. One 
of his captors was carrying the revolver. Soon 
a couple of badly wounded Uhlans were brought 
in and put on board the steamer for England. 
It is a pleasure to record that they were treated 
with the utmost care. This apparently was all 
we were to see of the skirmish. If I remember 
correctly about nine Germans were killed and 
three or four Belgians. It brought home to the 
people of Ostend that the war was very near. 
But their faith in France and Britain was great, 
help would come in time they felt sure. Alas 
they were doomed to disappointment. 

From Ostend I moved to Ghent, and while 
there paid several visits to Termonde during the 
various periods of its destruction, and what a 
pitiful sight it was. The wretched little town of 
some 1600 houses was almost a complete wreck. 
Over 1200 houses were destroyed, whole streets 
were simply piles of bricks and broken stones, 
mingled here and there with remains of bodies 
and torn clothing. A few houses stood intact 
for on their doors was the magic chalk mark that 
good people lived there — in other words Ger- 
mans, or at least German sympathisers, or still 
worse, spies. The churches and convents were 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 2S 

ruthlessly destroyed and this was not because the 
churches being usually high were places of ob- 
servation, for in one case the little low built 
chapel in the square surrounded by the houses 
of the old women who were supported by the town 
was burned, though it could offer no possible 
point for observation, while at the entrance to 
the square was the chalked order, that, as only 
very old women lived there the houses need not 
be destroyed. The Germans seem to have had 
the idea that by destroying the churches they were 
taking the heart and soul from the people. It 
is one of their many great psychological mistakes. 
The last time I visited Termonde was a Sun- 
day two or three days after the most recent de- 
structive visit made by the Germans. I had with 
great difficulty obtained a pass. In fact it was 
granted only by explaining how necessary it was 
that people in England and America should 
know exactly what was happening to Belgium, 
so that they could help in whatever ways were 
possible, and that I would send or take these pho- 
tographs directly to England. It made one's 
heart sick to see the misery of the wretched Ter- 
monde people. They seemed to be stunned. Of 
course during the bombardment, and subsequent 
incendiary work, practically all of the inhabitants 



24 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

had fled. On this Sunday the country seemed so 
quiet and peaceful that they returned as though 
in hopes that it had all been a dream, and they 
wandered about among the blackened ruins try- 
ing vainly to discover what had but a few hours 
before been their homes. What had they done 
that they should be so treated? They were peace- 
ful people working only that they might live in 
their simple homes. Why then should these Ger- 
man devils come without cause or provocation 
and ruin them? One nice looking woman, who 
was carrying a tiny baby in her arms, pointed to a 
pile of bricks and said, "My little baby was born 
there three weeks ago and now I have not even 
a cradle for her. My God, this is not war, this 
is the work of the devils," and she was right. 

As I wandered through the scene of desolation 
I came upon a building, two-thirds of which had 
fallen, and its walls were pitted with shot. All 
that remained was a small wine and coffee shop. 
A voice called as I passed, "Come in, you are 
a friend — you are English. Have a cup of cof- 
fee. It is all I have left to offer, but you are 
welcome to it." 

I accepted the welcome refreshment from the 
old couple who were happy to find even a part of 
their house more or less intact. When I offered 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 25 

to pay for the coffee they refused to accept any 
money saying that soon the English were coming 
over to help them and they would then be happy. 
Poor people, I wonder what has become of them 
and if they are still waiting for the help they were 
expecting over three years ago. 

After crossing the river where my car was 
waiting I engaged in conversation with a Belgian 
officer who told me how the soldiers had done all 
in their power to protect the town. The odds 
against them were overwhehning. He pointed 
with pride to the decapitated tower of the Place 
de rule. It appears that the Germans had man- 
aged to place a machine gun in the belfry and it 
must have been a difficult task. I had been up 
there only a couple of days earlier and had great 
difficulty in getting my camera up to the top. 
The officer who was in the field artillery told his 
men that he wanted the gun destroyed. Two 
shots striking simultaneously cut off the upper 
half of the tower completely and with it the ma- 
chine gun and crew. This same officer told how 
two German officers wishing to examine carefully 
the river banks, came out in the open street, 
carrying in their arms a baby, evidently hoping 
by this means to protect themselves. A man who 
was an expert shot was detailed to attend to the 



26 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

case with the result that the officer carrying the 
baby was shot through the head. The baby 
escaped unhurt while the second officer hurriedly 
sought the nearest shelter. 

It was some days after this visit to Termonde 
that in company with my friend Arthur H. Glea- 
son (whose splendid unselfish work in Belgium 
and France is well known) I visited a convent in 
which I had been told there was a young girl 
who had been terribly maltreated by German 
soldiers. She was lying then at the point of 
death, a victim of some twenty human devils, 
who forced the father and mother to be present 
that they might witness their daughter's ruin. 
This is not a nice subject to write about, and I 
merely touch on it to show one of the causes of 
my joining the army. 

Near Ghent is, or rather was, the little village 
of Melle. It happened to be in the way of the 
German army of invasion. Early one morning 
reports came into Ghent that severe fighting was 
in progress. My car not being available I hired 
a carriage to which was more or less attached 
a dilapidated horse, and which took us along the 
road toward Melle. We passed numbers of Bel- 
gian soldiers, ill equipped but always cheerful, 
going forward. Also numbers of wounded men 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 27 

being brought back. They were in all sorts of 
vehicles, from fine motor cars to springless wag- 
gons, and it was indeed a pitiful sight. Two cases 
I can even now remember clearly were men, one 
with his lower jaw completely shot away, and the 
other terribly wounded in the body, lying on the 
top of an old fashioned covered carriage. The 
inside was full to its utmost capacity with wound- 
ed. Every jolt over the rough paved roads sent 
a shock of pain through their torn bodies. They 
endured it heroically, for it was better than fall- 
ing into the hands of the Germans whose treat- 
ment of Belgian wounded was in so many cases 
absolutely brutal. But what a contrast were 
these makeshift vehicles to the ambulances of the 
present time, pneumatic tired and smooth run- 
ning, and equipped with stretchers, on which the 
wounded are borne with the minimum of pain. 
Conditions have greatly changed since those days 
of trial. 

By the time we had gone within two or three 
miles of Melle the sounds of battle filled the air. 
NTot battle as we now know it with its over- 
whelming voice of heavy artillery, but chiefly the 
rifle, and the machine gun with its regular rap- 
ping death-dealing shots. Now and then light 
artillery punctuated the sound, and we wondered 



28 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

whether this meant that the Germans were ad- 
vancing on Ghent. No one seemed to know much 
of what was going on. The peasants stood about 
in silent groups, worried at the prospect of what 
fate had in store for them. Some few went on 
with their regular work apparently deaf to the 
unceasing clatter of shot. It did not seem advis- 
able for us to proceed any further along the road 
by carriage, so, much to the driver's relief, for 
he thought we were urging him straight into the 
jaws of death, we told him to hide his vehicle in 
a narrow alley, and leaving the motion picture 
camera in his care we walked forward armed only 
with a small pocket camera. 

Before long the glint of a lance caught our 
eyes, and we saw what we thought was a German 
Uhlan peering from among the trees at the en- 
trance of a big estate. He was about 300 yards 
distant. How strange it was to see this silent evi- 
dence of the war, this human being stalking his 
own kind. It gave me a curious thrill of excite- 
ment for it was practically the first time I had 
been hunted by a soldier, a man trained to hunt 
his fellow man. And I was among those he was 
watching. He was dressed in the elusive grey- 
green uniform of the German army, and the 
colours blended among the trees so that he was 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 29 

scarcely visible. Silently he had come and as 
silently he vanished from our view. 

After he had disappeared we looked further 
along the road and saw clearly a gi'oup of cav- 
alry, all carrying their long tubular lances. Be- 
ing filled with curiosity we wanted a nearer 
view, and decided to walk slowly in their direc- 
tion. Before we had advanced more than three or 
four hundred yards we were startled by the clatter 
of horses' hoofs behind us, and turning we were 
very much upset by seeing three mounted men in 
field green uniforms following us. It was too 
late to attempt concealment and we dared not 
turn back. The only possible course was to con- 
tinue forward as though we were not afraid, 
though I do not mind confessing I was so thor- 
oughly frightened that my knees trembled vio- 
lently. Before we had gone far the three hussars, 
as they turned out to be, overtook us and wanted 
to know who we were and what we were doing. 
I acknowledged myself an Englishman while my 
friend said he was American, whereupon one of 
the three spoke to us in good English, and told us 
he had been in New York for some years. 

All this time we were approaching the cross 
roads while we talked in quite a friendly way 
about New York. As we drew near to the group 



80 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

of about a dozen, which proved to be of the same 
regiment as our escorts, our three formed up, one 
on either side, and one behind, and I had horrible 
thoughts of what might be in store for us. We 
were taken before the officer who on hearing our 
nationahties addressed us in perfect English. He 
was most polite and told us that for a number of 
years he had lived in England, had been to Ox- 
ford, and finished by saying that he hoped the 
war would soon end as he was very much attached 
to English life and was most anxious to get back 
to his friends there. He declared that he thor- 
oughly disliked the idea of fighting us but that 
he had been recalled, and could not do other than 
obey. Altogether he seemed a thoroughly decent 
sort of Saxon. We asked whether we could go 
forward as we both were very anxious to see a 
fight. 

"You can't go yet," he replied, "as you would 
most certainly be shot, but later, when things 
have quieted down, you may perhaps be able to 
go with safety, and by the way do you happen to 
have any cigarettes, I have not had a decent 
smoke for a week?" 

So I handed him a nearly full box, telling him 
to keep them, for I fully expected to be back in 
Ghent within a few hours. I then asked if he 



I 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 31 

had any objection to my taking a photograph 
of hini and his men. He did not object at all, in 
fact he was very much pleased. 

"Don't forget to send me prints after the war," 
he said, as he wrote his name and address on the 
envelope containing my passport. 

"I shall be delighted to do so only, of course, 
there won't be any Germans left when we have 
finished with you." 

He replied, "You mean there won't be any 
English left." 

How little either of us realised what was be- 
fore us, and how soon that war would develop 
into such gigantic proportions. That it would 
last even until Christmas of that year did not 
seem probable, for we in general knew nothing 
on the subject. We all thought that with mod- 
ern methods conditions would be made so intoler- 
able that no country could endure the slaughter 
which apparently must result. Only those who 
were in high command, and who had studied the 
subject, understood that there was a probability 
of the war continuing for many years. Did not 
people regard Lord Kitchener as a pessimist 
when he said we must prepare for at least three 
years? That period has passed and the end is 



32 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

not yet in sight. But to go back to our interview 
with the Saxon officer. 

By half past three the sounds of fighting had 
subsided. Only an occasional shot disturbed the 
stillness of the afternoon. We were told that 
it would be reasonably safe to go forward and 
foolishly enough we went. Our way led us 
through a small one-street village which had not 
been molested. The people stood about in groups 
talking over what had been going on in the near- 
by village of Melle, and we gathered from what 
they said that the place had been completely de- 
stroyed, and a great many civilians and troops 
killed. While pressing along the road between 
the two villages a German sentry warned us not 
to walk on the paved part as he said it was mined. 
Why he let us pass I cannot understand, but he 
asked no questions. Evidently he imagined that 
we had a right to be there. 

Soon we came on signs of the recent conflict, 
buildings burned or destroyed by shell, bodies of 
Belgian troops and occasional peasants in civilian 
garb, lying about in the queer distorted attitudes 
so common on the battlefield. Here and there 
the carcass of a cow or a pig lay across the road, 
often with the body of a soldier lying against it 
showing that the man had been foolish enough 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 33 

to trust to the soft body for protection against 
the enemy's bullet. 

All that remained of the village of Melle was 
the row of slowly burning cottages. A truly 
desolate sight. I was in the act of securing a 
photograph of the scene, in the foreground of 
which lay a poor Belgian soldier slowly burning, 
when a German cyclist approached without my 
seeing him. Quickly dismounting he seized my 
camera, and was about to break it, when I made 
him understand that it contained the photograph 
of one of his officers. At first he seemed incredu- 
lous, but on being shown the name and address 
written in the officer's own handwriting he some- 
what reluctantly handed back the camera. But 
strange to say, he did not seem in the least sur- 
prised and never even asked us what we were 
doing. 

Had we possessed a particle of intelligence we 
would have been satisfied with what we had seen 
and returned, instead of which we very foolishly 
continued on the road to trouble with the result 
that within a few minutes we were taken prison- 
ers by a number of soldiers, who, asking no ques- 
tions, led us straight to their officers. 

The prospect looked very dark and I must 
confess to having experienced a most disagree- 



84 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

able sinking sensation in the region of my heart. 
That we should come out of it alive did not seem 
possible. I, at any rate, was an Englishman, 
and had been seen trying to use a camera in a 
region that could not by any stretch of imagina- 
tion be considered healthy for photographic work. 
The interrogations to which we were subjected 
by the group of ferocious unsmiling officers were 
brief. Gleason said he was an American out 
on newspaper work, while I proclaimed my 
British nationality, showed my imposing pass- 
port, and said that a thirst for knowledge and 
a roving disposition had brought me to Belgium 
to look on. The Germans have no sense of 
humour. They never so much as smiled, but 
brusquely ordered us both into a field and placed 
us under guard, Apparently we were not to be 
shot — just yet. Pretty soon a couple of large 
motors came along filled with a grand array 
of German staff officers. They stopped near us 
and began discussing the name of the village 
which their troops had so thoroughly destroyed. 
Evidently there were several different opinions, 
and, strange to say, I was called up and asked the 
name, I told them quite truthfully that I was a 
stranger, and so I was dismissed, and not even 
thanked for giving such valuable information. 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 35 

Life was getting to be very monotonous and 
we could elicit no information from our silent 
guards. Once an officer came by and we asked 
him if we could go as we were tired of doing 
nothing. His only reply was a growl which 
seemed to mean, "No, damn you," so we stayed. 
With the approach of evening other prisoners 
were added to the haul until we numbered nearly 
thirty. The newcomers being all Belgians who 
like ourselves imagined they were doomed to 
decorate the front of a convenient wall. Under 
the circumstances they were fairly cheerful, 
though there was no undue hilarity noticeable. 

Shortly before sunset we were greatly inter- 
ested in watching the German troops arrive, some 
15,000 in all. Everything was done in the most 
orderly manner. Their neat bivouac tents were 
arranged in straight lines. Their camp-cookers 
came up, and rations were distributed in a most 
business-like way. Few commands were given 
and those in a surly, bullying tone. Some of the 
officers carried small whips with them, evidently 
with the idea of accentuating orders. What a 
marked contrast to the way our officers treat their 
men! 

The troops were extremely well clothed and 
equipped but were by no means a cheerful lot. 



36 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

There was none of that jolly banter that is al- 
ways to be found among our fellows. Not even 
any of that inevitable good-natured grumbling 
in which our men always indulge, especially when 
there happens to be no reason for it. I have al- 
ways noticed that the British Tommy's grum- 
bling, or grousing, as he prefers to call it, is in in- 
verse ratio to cause. In other words the more 
comfortable he is the more he complains, while 
when everything is miserable, when it pours with 
rain, when the twelve-mile march measures 
twenty, even when his rations fail to turn up at 
the proper hour, he searches thoroughly for 
whatever there may be of a funny side to the 
situation, and promptly blossoms forth into song 
and jest — all of which is a Godsend, and helps so 
greatly to make the burdens as light as possible. 
The German soldiers struck us as perfectly 
trained but rather dull, and altogether too quiet. 
The food served to them from the camp cookers 
was, as far as we could see, a thick stew which 
smelt rather good. There was also a hot bever- 
age, which I suppose was colFee, but our hosts 
were thoroughly inhospitable, and never offered 
us any sort of refreshment, though I would»have 
given a good deal for a drink of cold water. 
Shortly before dark we were moved forward. 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 37 

and placed immediately behind a long straight 
freshly made trench. This was scarcely three 
feet deep, and the parapet about two feet high, 
composed of earth and coils of wire, taken from 
a nearby concrete factory. In the trench the men 
placed a lot of straw taken from a poor peasant's 
wheat stack, and there they slept with their rifles 
all laid on the parapet. 

How strangely unlike the trench methods of 
to-day! Around us a strong guard was placed, 
with ohe sentry in the centre of our little group. 
To make sure that we would not escape a lantern 
was hung so that we could be easily watched. 
The extraordinary precautions for our safety 
struck us as comical and I even ventured to laugh 
whereupon I received strict injunctions that 
laughing was forbidden. We were forced to lay 
flat, and the space allowed was so small that we 
were actually on top of each other, and were mis- 
erably uncomfortable and very cold. One human 
sort of sentry slipped a sheaf of oats to me and 
it made life more endurable, besides furnishing 
me with food, for I peeled the husks and ate the 
grain. My light breakfast of the early morning 
was so very remote that my stomach had com- 
pletely forgotten it. 

One thing which rather disturbed our equanim- 



S8 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

ity was the fact that, so far as we could under- 
stand, we were to be used as a shield to protect 
our captors on their march into Ghent. I am 
not usually very particular as to what use I 
can make of myself, but the prospect of having 
the honour of leading the Huns did not appeal to 
me from any point of view. In fact, without any 
suggestion of untruthfulness, I may say that I 
thoroughly disliked the idea of being a human 
shield, for I knew how well the Belgians shot. 
However, there was a funny side to it, and once 
again I laughed with very nearly disastrous re- 
sults. 

Our hosts did not omit the customs of polite 
society for they sent an officer to bid us *'good 
night" and "pleasant dreams." Translated, his 
words, or growls, were, "If any one of you 
speaks, gets up or moves you will all be imme- 
diately shot." We replied with great polite- 
ness, "Good night," whereupon he glared at us 
most ferociously and growled some rude remarks 
which lacerated our feelings to such a degree that 
we could scarcely refrain from a burst of 
laughter. Fortunately, however, we did control 
our features, but we lamented the fact that the 
Germans are so entirely without humour. 

That night was one that must live in my mind 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 39 

SO long as I stay on this troublesome old earth. 
Picture the scene to yourself: a small group of 
closely - huddled - probably-going-to-be- shot hu- 
man beings, very thoroughly surrounded by a 
portion of the magnificence of the great German 
army, all in full battle order. On our right a row 
of some fifteen burning cottages, the red glare 
from which painted everything in fantastic danc- 
ing patches of dull red. All was as quiet as the 
poor dead bodies that lay scattered along the 
road, staring with unseeing eyes at the starlit 
heavens. Behind us, beyond the groups of sleep- 
ing men and watching sentries, stood the remains 
of several corn stacks which had been torn apart 
to furnish bedding for the men (gi'ain was not so 
valuable in those days, and wasteful destruction 
was the order of the day, — how little those devas- 
tators foresaw the time when food to them would 
be more precious than gold!) . Beyond these rose 
the pale full moon, casting its cold indefinite col- 
oured light on the objects surrounding us. The 
contrast of that cold light and the warm glow of 
the fires was wonderful and the bayonets gleamed 
now red and now white in the varying light. It 
was beautiful but it did not seem real. It was a 
stage setting such as one seldom sees in nature, 
and I longed to put it on canvas. 



40 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

The dismal crackling of the burning timber, 
and the peaceful snoring of the tired troops, were 
the only sounds, save the occasional groans of one 
of the Belgians who lay next to me. The poor 
fellow was in terrible mental agony. He lay 
there never for a moment taking his eyes from the 
nearest cottage yet saying nothing but a mut- 
tered heartrending, "Mon Dieu, ]Mon Dieu," 
every now and then. What a long, long night 
that was and how busy our thoughts were. 
Among other things I wondered what would 
my wife and children say if they could see m^? 
Would I see them again, and so my thoughts 
wandered between the short fitful dozes. 

The air was very keen and I wrapped a copy 
of the Times, which I happened to have in my 
pockets, around my legs to keep out the cold 
wind. With the first glimpse of daylight I no- 
ticed that the headline across my knees, in large 
black type was, "German Atrocities in Belgium." 
That did not strike me as a healthy thing to 
display, so I quietly and unobtrusively buried 
it. 

In the dim soft light of the early morning, when 
everything was painfully quiet, I noticed that 
my unhappy neighbour stared with renewed in- 
tensity. The horror and pain depicted in those 



IN BELGIUM— A PRISONER 41 

eyes I shall never forget, and what was the cause 
of the increased agony ? A small procession lead- 
ing out from the nearest ruined cottage. Some 
black-robed priests were carrying five stretchers 
on each of which lay the remains of human beings, 
charred, distorted and so terribly still. The poor 
man broke down at the sight and bursting into 
bitter tears said : 

"There goes my whole family. My mother, 
my wife and my three little children. Oh ! Holy 
Mother of God, why don't they kill me too? I 
have nothing to live for." 

This you may say is a small incident, but it is 
typical of what was happening all over Belgium 
and must surely call down the curse of the Al- 
mighty on those who are responsible for the im- 
called-f or misery and cruelty which characterised 
the invasion of unoffending Belgium. 



Thanks to a stroke of unexpected good fortune 
the following day saw us safely back in Ghent, 
but our troubles were not entirely past. It ap- 
peared that some Belgians had seen us going to- 
ward the German cavalry patrol, and had 
watched us go with them on the road to Melle. 



42 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

With some reason they concluded that we were 
spies, and it required a lot of explaining before 
we were freed from the suspicion. The fact that 
we had been living in a German-owned hotel, and 
had been taking our meals at a German restau- 
rant did not help our cause. I need scarcely add 
that we had no idea of the nationality of these 
places, and thought they must be all right as they 
were allowed to do business in this important 
Belgian town. 



CHAPTER II 

Wounded at Alost 

Nothing worth regarding as of especial in- 
terest occurred during the next week or two so 
I made a trip home and stayed there three or four 
days in order that my family might see that I 
was still alive. Dame Fortune had been good to 
me, and I owed it to her, and incidentally to my 
wife, to be more careful in the future than I had 
been in the past and whatever happened not again 
to get caught by the Germans. It is all very well 
to play the fool occasionally — it keeps one's blood 
moving and prevents that terrible disease known 
as vegetating, but to make a practice of doing 
so is not entirely desirable, as the old Dame who 
takes care of fools, objects to working overtime 
and lets you down roughly when you least expect 
it. 

For some days after my return from England 
nothing very exciting occurred. There had been 
some minor engagements and skirmishes in the 
neighbourhood during which a few peasants had 

43 



44 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

been killed and a number of farmhouses burned. 

We had experienced a few hours of interest 
when out in search of a certain hospital in which, 
I had been told, a brother of mine lay wounded. 
His death had been reported at home, but there 
seemed room for considerable doubt, and believ- 
ing that all reports following the battle of Mons 
must necessarily be more or less unreliable, I 
had followed various clues, one of which was that 
he had been wounded and was still in Belgium. 
The place was a fair distance from Ghent, so I 
engaged a large motor and a driver who knew the 
country. As we proceeded on our way, disturb- 
ing rumours of raiding Uhlans being in the im- 
mediate vicinity continued to reach us. Added 
to this our car proved to have very defective tyres 
and, as if this was not enough, the weather became 
very unruly. The wind increased to a gale and 
flurries of rain proclaimed themselves the advance 
party of a regular downpour. Stopping at a 
fair sized village we made enquiries regarding the 
hospital we were in search of, and learned that 
it had been completely abandoned. This was 
very unsatisfactory and left us no alternative but 
to turn back with the hope of reaching Ghent 
that night. 

That was a run to be remembered. Tyre after 



WOUNDED AT ALOST 45 

tyre burst, while the rain came down in torrents. 
Finally when still some miles from Ghent the 
chauffeur announced that he could go no further. 
The last tyre had a bad blowout and we had 
no more repair material, in other words we were 
done. Now of course this should have been the 
moment for the Uhlans to appear, but good luck 
had not altogether abandoned us and they did 
not arrive. We pushed the car to the side of 
the road and abandoned it, and after search- 
ing for some time managed to find a man who 
had a carriage of sorts and" so, dripping wet, 
very tired, and a little bit discouraged, we got 
back to Ghent late that night. 

During these weeks at Ghent there was a 
steady stream of refugees from the stricken areas. 
People of all classes driven from their homes by 
the ruthless Huns. Many of these unfortunates 
had terrible stories to tell. Some had lost their 
children and they told how the poor little innocent 
victims had been carried on bayonets by the sav- 
age brutes of soldiers. Others gave ghastly ac- 
counts of how the wretched women had been mal- 
treated, how some had had their breasts cut off 
and nailed to the doors, as a warning of what 
would happen to any who dared oppose the will 
of the invader. Others had been violated in the 



46 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

most brutal manner with every imaginable re- 
finement of torture. It made one's heart ache 
to hear these fearful stories and to know that a 
great nation which had been considered civilised 
should stoop to such a barbarous means of terror- 
ising a peaceful people whose only crime was their 
faithfulness to their own small and almost de- 
fenceless country. Some say that the behaviour 
of the troops was due to drink but the argument 
is bad, for the German soldier is so highly dis- 
ciplined that he does not get drunk unless he is 
permitted as a part of a devilishly conceived plan. 
One cannot but believe that in many, if not most 
cases, the soldiers would have been loath to 
commit the atrocities had they not been inflamed 
by liquor, and there are some instances where they 
even refused to obey their officers and were shot 
because they could not bring then;iselves to go 
contrary to their better natures. 

One day I met an English officer, Capt. , 

who had been wounded at Mons and had, thanks 
to a kindly Belgian nurse, managed to make his 
escape from a temporary hospital. He told me 
that when he lay on the field badly wounded he 
saw a German army doctor or under-doctor ex- 
amine an English sergeant who was shot through 
the leg. After binding up the leg wound the 



WOUNDED AT ALOST 47 

brute deliberately fired two revolver bullets 
through the man's shoulder, then strange as it 
may seem he bound up these fresh wounds and 
had the victim taken to a hospital. It happened 

that he and Capt. were put in the same 

room. The unfortunate sergeant died three days 
later. Surely no more cold-blooded murder could 
have been conmiitted. Germany imagined at 
that time that she was bound to win, and there- 
fore would not be called to account for her in- 
human behaviour, and the violation of all the 
rules of modern warfare. 

Toward the end of September there was some 
fairly heavy fighting not many miles from Ghent. 
Unfortunately we were prevented from getting 
to it thanks first to the unscrupulous conduct of 
a certain newspaper correspondent who by unfair 
means got possession of the car we had engaged. 
It was a great disappointment to us but we could 
do nothing except take a carriage which was a 
slow and very unsatisfactory substitute. How- 
ever, with this we should have been able to ac- 
complish something had not an American press 
man, who evidently feared we would steal his 
thunder, put a spoke in our wheel by telling some 
queer story to the officers who had their headquar- 
ters behind the firing line at a place which could 



48 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

not be passed without their sanction, and they 
absolutely refused to honour our passes. There 
was nothing for it but to return to Ghent, where 
thanks to the American Consul we managed to 
secure a good car and chauffeur for the following 
day, when we made an early start. 

The fighting was on the road to Alost, at a 
village whose name I have forgotten. We were 
armed with valuable letters that would take us 
anywhere we wished to go. These and a lot of 
English illustrated papers (we bought up all the 
supply in Ghent) and plenty of cigarettes for 
presents did wonders and we met with no opposi- 
tion. In fact, we were received with open arms. 

A good share of the fighting was on, and near, 
the main road, so we were able to take the car 
right into the firing line. On our way we passed 
a long stream of refugees trudging with what 
they could carry toward Ghent. The peasants 
who were on the Belgian side of the fighting line 
were scarcely at all concerned, but continued 
their every day pursuits, totally disregarding the 
fire of artillery, rifle and machine ^ns. When 
a shell would tear a branch from a tree the thrifty 
people would immediately go after the branch 
and cut it up for firewood. Their coolness was 
remarkable. 



WOUNDED AT ALOST 49 

It happened soon after we had reached the 
Belgians' advanced position that they decided to 
retire a few hundred yards to where their artil- 
lery would get a better field of fire on the slope 
of a low hill. As they turned on the road I 
managed to secure some cinema films of both 
their artillery and cavalry. Curiously enough 
they had no infantry further forward. 

Having used up the spool of film that was in 
the camera I decided to reload before moving 
after the troops. This was rather unfortunate as 
it turned out, for the next minute the Germans 
opened up a steady rifle fire, all aimed apparently 
at the car which presumably they mistook for a 
machine-gun car. The first few shots went some- 
what wild but soon they came unpleasantly close, 
and I thought it safer to complete the loading of 
the camera while sitting behind the row of trees 
which lined the ditch on the roadside. For nearly 
half an hour we were unable to make our depar- 
ture as the bullets were cutting the bark about 
our heads. The Germans were only about 500 
yards away and yet strange to say they never 
once hit the car. Nevertheless it was to say the 
least of it an awkward situation for us to be 
caught between the Belgian and German lines. 

During a momentary lull in the firing we 



50 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

jumped into the car and with no regard to the 
speed laws made an ignominious retreat until we 
were well back of the Belgian front line. There 
was no object in remaining much longer as the 
fighting was dying down. On the whole the Ger- 
mans had had the worst of it and had lost a fairly- 
large number of men, many of the killed being 
men of considerable age with quite grey hair. 

The next day, September 27th, we made an 
early start as we were told that there was every 
indication of severe fighting in or near Alost. 
Before we had gone more than eight or nine 
miles we met the sad procession of refugees which 
marks the German advance. For miles it was 
an almost unbroken line of men and women and 
children, some twenty thousand, all told, most of 
them walking, or rather struggling under im- 
mense burdens of household treasures, — a more 
extraordinary assortment of belongings could 
scarcely be imagined! The younger people 
seemed quite cheerful, but the old men and 
women, who hobbled along laboriously, were ter- 
ribly downhearted, for well they realised what the 
exodus meant, and to be torn from the home you 
have known from infancy is a hard wrench, 
especially when it is practically certain that the 
home will be completely destroyed. No wonder 



WOUNDED AT ALOST 51 

then that they were sad and murmured bitter 
words agamst the heartless invaders. In the pro- 
cession were some few carriages and carts piled 
high with everything from beds to pictures, from 
people too infirm to walk to tiny babies sleeping 
peacefully among the collection of household 
gods. Carts drawn by dogs were numerous, and 
some there were which combined horses and dogs 
for their motive power. On one side of the road 
this dreary line marched northward, many of 
them would ultimately reach the hospitable shores 
of England, the protector of small nations ; while 
on the other side, going south towards the ever 
increasing booming of guns were the Belgian sol- 
diers of all branches of the army, a cheerful lot 
who cracked jokes with the refugees and told 
them what they were going to do to the Ger- 
mans. They were a strangely hopeful body of 
men who did not realise in any way what lay 
before them. 

We passed one particularly jolly crowd and 
met the daredevil soldier who only a short time 
before had stolen a train from the Germans. He 
told us with a keen sense of humour how he had 
been out one day on a private sniping expedition, 
when he saw an empty train brought to a siding 
where there were a number of German troops. 



52 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

Being a locomotive engineer he conceived the 
bright idea of making off with the train. The 
Germans, entirely unsuspicious, left it quite un- 
guarded, so he carefully crawled along the ditch 
and made his way to the engine and started it off. 
At first it did not occur to the Germans what was 
happening. Finally they realised that the train 
had been stolen, and they opened a perfectly 
harmless rifle fire. Thanks to our cheerful friend's 
^sno^edge of the lines he managed to return the 
train to its rightful owners, the Belgians. 

It was late in the morning when finally we 
reached the outskirts of Alost, to find that there 
was considerable artillery activity going on. The 
Germans were using a few fairly large shells 
which they dropped about the town in a very aim- 
less way. We could see no definite object in the 
attack except a sort of general idea of destruc- 
tion, while the Belgians numbering in all ap- 
parently about 10,000 were trying to keep pos- 
session of the town. We paid our respects to the 
General commanding the operations and asked if 
we might go forward to where the fighting would 
be most active. I told him how anxious I was to 
get some moving pictures which would show our 
people how well the Belgians fought. He frankly 
expressed the opinion that I was, without any 



WOUNDED AT ALOST 58 

doubt, a lunatic (to which I readily agreed) and 
that if he gave me permission to go forward I 
should probably get killed and blame him. He 
smiled when I pointed out that I would positively 
undertake not to blame him in the event of my 
getting killed, and so he allowed us both to go 
forward. 

The town of Alost was in a state of semi-de- 
sertion. The thousands of people we had passed 
on the way had simply closed their front doors. 
Here and there some more courageous souls re- 
mained in their homes, notwithstanding the warn- 
ings they had received from the troops. The 
streets were occupied by scattered lots of sol- 
diers, and the occasional groups of civilians who 
waited, hoping that the Germans would be re- 
pelled, and they would be allowed to remain. 

When we asked the way down to the street 
where the staff officers told us the fighting was 
most likely to take place, the people thought us 
mad and said we would surely be killed if we 
went there. However we finally reached the 
square and found it occupied by quite a fair num- 
ber of troops, most of them dismounted lancers. 
There were also a few machine guns arranged to 
hold the various converging streets. Just what 
the Germans were doing, or trying to do, was 



64 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

difficult to understand. Occasionally the singing 
of a shell followed by terrific detonation disturbed 
the otherwise quiet of the day. These shells 
seemed to be fired simply at the town in general 
without any definite target. Some dropped in 
the homes for old women, others on buildings of 
no special value, all doing material damage, with- 
out gaining any military advantage beyond show- 
ing the citizens that it was wise to get out while 
yet they^Quld. 

After a talk with some Belgian officers we 
decided to go down toward the canal with a body 
of the dismounted lancers who were to hold the 
canal bridge. With them came two armoured 
machine-gun cars. The position chosen was a 
small street in which about fifty yards from the 
canal bridge a barricade (composed chiefly of 
barrels of fish) was hastily thrown across. Here 
the troops ensconced themselves, while I, select- 
ing a suitable place which offered a good view, 
assembled my "movie" camera. Evidently the 
Germans saw it, and presumably mistaking it for 
a machine gun, began to be very disagreeable, fir- 
ing a number of shrapnel shells. These all went 
wide of the mark and only occasional bullets fell 
near enough to be picked up as souvenirs. The 
Belgians called them "German hail," and were 




GERMAN MITRAILLEUSE (MACHINE GUN) CAPTURED BY 
MEN OF THE BELGIAN CYCLE CORPS 



WOUNDED AT ALOST 55 

much amused at the poor shooting. We were 
laughing at it all when suddenly the keen whistle 
of a well-directed H. E. (high explosive) shell 
made us change our tune. That it was coming 
pretty straight there could be no doubt. There 
was equally no doubt as to the utter impossibility 
of doing any dodging. One's thoughts move 
quickly, and I remember as I stood flat against 
the door near which the camera was standing, 
wondering whether this was to be the end of my 
Belgian trip. The shell struck immediately over 
my head and I felt as though the end of the world 
had come. The deafening sound of the explo- 
sion, the falling of bricks and plaster and the 
choking sensation as the fumes and dust were 
swallowed was all very terrifying. The camera 
was falling and I instinctively grabbed at it. 
Then a sharp pain stung my leg and I thought 
it must be broken. But on kicking it about I 
found that there was nothing serious the matter, 
only a flesh wound. 

The whole air seemed full of confusion, for sev- 
eral more shells were coming and it seemed as 
though I ought to be making photographs, so in 
spite of being rather stunned, and almost blinded, 
I took the camera to the other side of the street, 
and proceeded to turn the crank, and got a few 



56 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

feet of film, though I could not see what I was 
getting. The handle had only been turned a few 
times when in the midst of the turmoil I heard 
the Belgians retiring at the double, and with them 
came the snorting machine-gun cars. Retreating . 
apparently was the fashionable form of amuse- 
ment, so wishing to keep in the fashion, and not 
caring to be left alone, I also retreated, camera 
and all, and well it was that I did so for the next 
shell, a large one, landed within a few yards 
where I had been standing. It would have very 
effectively cured my taste for adventure had I 
remained a few seconds longer. It is perhaps , 
superfluous for me to say that I felt badly 
shaken and generally much the worse for wear. 
Yet fortunately I was able to keep going for some 
time and secured a few interesting films. 

While in the town square, after the retreat 
from the canal, a party of Belgian cyclists volun- 
teered to silence a certain German machine gun 
which was doing a lot of damage. They were 
given permission, and half an hour later returned, 
bringing with them the troublesome gun. To 
say they were delighted scarcely expresses it. 
It appears that they were residents of the town 
and knew intimately the building in which the 
gun had been hidden. By going through back 



xt I 



WOUNDED AT ALOST 57 

lanes and cellars they had come on the gun crew 
quite noiselessly, and — well, anyway, they 
brought the gun back, and were none the worse 
for the experience. This I may say is very typical 
of the way in which the Belgian soldier likes to 
do things. He seems to like individual jobs, and 
can usually be relied upon to give a very good 
account of himself. 

The rest of the events of that day were very in- 
distinct and hazy in my mind. I can remember 
seeing black-robed priests walking and cycling 
into wherever the fighting was thickest and nuns, 
too, all bound on their errands of mercy, giving 
what aid they could to the wounded and dying, 
caring nothing for their own safety. Indeed, the 
unselfish work done by these good people 
throughout Belgium stands out with glorious 
clearness, and they sacrificed their lives without 
a murmur, satisfied only to be able to follow out 
the teachings of their sacred calling, to do what- 
ever good lay in their power without thought for 
themselves. 

This day at Alost was my last one in Bel- 
gium. The effect of the shell began to tell, and, 
realising that I was in for trouble, it seemed wise 
to make all haste for England. It was very hard 
luck having to give up just then, for only a day 



58 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

or two before I had succeeded in obtaining passes 
which would have allowed me to go to Antwerp 
and do photographic work during its bombard- 
ment, which unfortunately seemed so imminent. 
But perhaps it was all for the best that for two 
months I was laid up as a result of the overdose 
acquaintance with the high explosive, for the 
Antwerp show turned more disastrously than any 
one could have foreseen, and I might have found 
it difficult to get away. Still I remember how 
terribly disappointed I was when the doctor told 
me that Antwerp had fallen, and I was lying 
helpless in bed. Ghent, too, was in the hands of 
the Germans, and so was my "movie" camera 
which I had left in a small hotel. There was 
nothing to do but get well as soon as possible, 
so that I might join the army and pay back my 
debts to the Germans. Recovery occupied over 
two months, while the payment of the various 
debts will never be completely settled. 



CHAPTER III 

In England, From Civilian to Soldier 

On December 14th, 1914, I paid my very first 
visit to that great institution the "War Office" 
and offered my services to my King and Country. 
Owing to the fact that I was about six years past 
the age limit my chances of being accepted were 
very small. But I assured the powers that were, 
that if they w ould not accept me when I made a 
truthful statement of my age I would visit a 
beauty parlour, have my face rejuvenated, and 
come back with a falsified age. After some con- 
sideration and taking into account the fact that 
I had lived outdoors all my life, hunting and 
studying wild animals in various parts of the 
world, I was sent down to be medically examined 
before a decision was made. The result of the 
said medical examination being quite satisfactory 
I was promised a commission as soon as I had 
gone through training in an O. T. C. (Officer's 
Training Corps) . So far so good. 

Next came the getting into the O. T. C. At 

59 



60 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

first they ridiculed the idea on account of age, but 
after a Httle persuasion I got in. Shall I ever 
forget those months of training! Being com- 
pletely ignorant of all drill the reader may well 
imagine what I went through. Whatever con- 
ceit had existed in my composition was totally 
and very thoroughly removed. I became the 
wormiest of worms, the kind that did not dare 
turn. I perspired, or I should say sweated (be- 
cause only officers are allowed to perspire, pri- 
vates sweat) out of sheer fright when I made 
glaring mistakes. At first we drilled in London 
(I was in the Inns of Court O. T. C. known as 
the "Devil's Own"), and were duly stared at by 
the ever curious and that of course made me 
extra nervous. 

Then came the move to the camp out in the 
country and here the Regimental Sergeant Ma- 
jor, the terror of the "rooky," got in his very good 
work. He searched diligently for any traces of 
conceit in each one of us, and when he found it 
proceeded, with great gallantry and dash, to 
launch his attack. The result was withering. 
Some poor fellows fainted under the ordeal. Of 
course it was not long before I gave him an op- 
portunity for personal remarks. I made a mis- 
take, or to be more correct some one else made 



FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 61 

the mistake, and it placed me out of my proper 
position. Not being quick enough to grasp the 
situation I stood firm in a place where I should 
not have been. Suddenly six feet two inches (it 
looked like fifteen feet) of very straight Sergeant 
Major loomed up directly in front of me, and a 
voice like an ocean-going steamship foghorn bel- 
owed for the whole world to hear "You blithering 
idiot ! What the H do you think you're do- 
ing, having your photograph taken?" etc., etc., 
etc., etc. He wanted me to answer him back 
when he would really and truly have laid me out, 
but I had not been born in the army, and had all 
my family in it, for nothing. With great bravery 
(for I was much too frightened to do anything 
else), I stood fast at rigid attention and stared, 
unseeing past the great man. What were my 
thoughts during this ordeal? My sense of hu- 
mour was most dangerously tickled, and I had 
the utmost difficulty in keeping my face straight 
What would have happened had I laughed, good- 
ness only knows. But there I was, a man between 
forty and fifty years old, accustomed to being 
treated with respect, to governing instead of 
being governed, being "cussed" by a man who or- 
dinarily would have had to say "sir'* in speaking 
to me, and yet, was not this part of that great 



62 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

thing called discipline, the thing that is the key- 
note of a soldier's successful training, without 
which soldiers are little more than unruly mobs. 
All this passed through my mind as I accepted 
my "dressing down" and I felt not the slightest 
resentment. 

For the time being I was IT while the other 
rookies smiled. But soon another fellow was 
attacked and he, foolishly, tried to exculpate him- 
self, to explain how and why it was he had made 
a certain mistake. This was what the R. S. M. 
was looking for and he "did himself proud." The 
very earth shook with his roars as he explained 
with unwonted vigour what he and all other de- 
cent soldiers thought of the man who presumed 
to "answer back," and we all stood smartly to 
attention, the bitter winter wind nearly freezing 
us, while we tried our best to keep our faces from 
any indication of smiles. I may add that no one 
in that company ever again attempted to explain 
his mistakes to the R. S. M. on parade. Off 
parade we could be sure of a most kindly wel- 
come. Advice and help were given generously, 
for he was a splendid fellow and he taught me 
very many valuable lessons. 

For nearly three months I remained in the 
O. T. C. We started work each day long before 



FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 63 

dawn, when the roll was read out by the aid of 
an electric torch while we stood and shivered in 
the bitter cold, and woe betide the man who was 
late, and we worked all day. When we were not 
drilling, or attending lectures, or digging 
trenches, we were cleaning our boots or our rifles, 
for on each parade we had to appear smartly 
turned out, and as it rained every day except 
when it snowed, keeping ourselves and our rifles 
clean was not an easy task. Then we had those 
joyous "night opps" (night operations) when 
we fought very imaginary battles and marched 
very real miles, for the battle ground was always 
chosen as far away as possible from our billets, 
and we very seldom had the slightest idea of what 
we were supposed to be doing, while the question 
of who won was regarded as a strict military se- 
cret and under no condition was it allowed to 
leak out. Still I suppose it was all good train- 
ing, it hardened us at any rate and that was very 
necessary. 

There was one marvellous institution which al- 
ways struck us as difii'cult of explanation. Dur- 
ing that winter of '14-'15 a severe form of in- 
fluenza was very prevalent. If any of us were 
not feeling well and had bad colds, in most cases 
the beginning of "flue," we were given L. D. 



64. WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

(light duty ) , and this consisted of sitting in a bit- 
terly cold and draughty lumber yard (where our 
mess and kitchen were situated ) on the edge of a 
canal, while we fished icy cold potatoes out of tubs 
of icy cold water and peeled them with blunt 
knives. Now this did not in any instance cure the 
cold or intercept the "flue" strange though it 
may seem, and the net result was far from satis- 
factory. 

My stay m the camp ended for me on March 
15 when I received the glad news that I had been 
given a commission as a Lieutenant in the nth 
battalion of the King's Own Yorkshire Light In- 
fantry, having jumped a grade on account of my 
age. Packing up was a quick job, and I was 
homeward bound within an hour after receiving 
the welcome news, feeling tremendously impor- 
tant, for was I not a real (though temporary) 
officer in his Majesty's Army? I was granted a 
few days' leave in order to get my uniform and 
kit (the uniform had been made for over a month 
and only needed the necessary regimental but- 
tons and badges) and was as proud as a peacock 
of my new feathers, while my children were even 
more proud and took the utmost delight and 
satisfaction in seeing their father saluted. It 
was most amusing. 



FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 65 

Then came the day when I joined my bat- 
talion. That was one of the greatest days of my 
hfe, one that will never be forgotten so long as I 
live. As I look back at all that has passed, and 
think of the delightful lot of fellows that were my 
companions for so many months, and now, how 
few of them remain! The years of war have 
thinned their number most pitifully. Every one 
has been in the casualty list, and some have been 
wounded several different times. No better lot 
of fellows had any battalion. We were like a 
huge family, working, studying, playing, and 
living together, with the one object in view, and 
that object is not yet attained. 

It is perhaps unnecessary to go into any de- 
tails of my life in England. Of how I first tried 
to move a company the day after I joined, as 
the company commander was otherwise engaged. 
The agonies I went through. The dread of the 
first General's review, in fact of all the things 
which every new and imperfectly trained officer 
must go through. Yet with it all I look back to 
the months of training as some of the happiest 
in my whole life. There was the great satisfac- 
tion of seeing the men develop ; when I first saw 
them they were in any sort of clothes, without 
rifles or equipment. Then came the great day 



66 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

when the khaki uniform arrived, followed soon 
by the leather equipment, and the consequent 
difficulties of assembling the endless parts, and 
then rifles to take the place of the soulless dum- 
mies, and the men felt that they were really sol- 
diers and we were, oh, so proud of them! Each 
march through the town in which we were billet- 
ed was a sort of triumphal procession. 

Our Colonel, who fortunately was a regular, 
took the greatest pride in the battalion, and in- 
stilled in every one the keenest sense of pride 
and respect, and the battalion increased in smart- 
ness and efficiency in a most gratifying way. Our 
life was a thoroughly happy one, for with scarcely 
an exception we all pulled together. My own po- 
sition was in a way rather curious as the Captain, 
who was second in command of our company, was 
a fellow considerably less than half my own age. 
A splendid chap in every way under whom it 
was a pleasure to serve. He knew more than I 
of matters military and so it was but right that 
he should have rank senior to mine. In our army 
we do not feel that rank must be according to 
age, we have many second lieutenants who are 
forty or even forty-five years of age and who do 
not feel that it is beneath their dignity to take or- 
ders from men very many years their junior. It is 



FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 67 

all a part of the discipline which is such a splendid 
thing for us all, both young and old. 

Our life during the period of training was one 
of constant activity. We all had to learn from 
the very beginning what was necessary for the 
making of soldiers. In less than a year we must 
be converted from peaceful citizens, enjoying the 
privileges and luxury of civilian life, to well-dis- 
ciplined fighting machines, and modern warfare 
calls for such a vast amount of technical knowl- 
edge that every minute of our time was thorough- 
ly occupied. Fortunately the enthusiasm of our 
men was wonderful. Not only would they do 
what work was demanded of them, but on Sat- 
urday afternoons and Sundays, when they could 
have rested, they would ask us to give them spe- 
cial instructions. It was indeed a pleasure and 
a privilege to help to the utmost of our power. 
The days seemed only too short for us to do what 
we wanted yet we worked frequently from 6 a. 
m., our first parade for physical training, till mid- 
night or later. The Huns might speak of us as 
an untrained rabble, but we were determined to 
show them that when we took to the field, be it 
in France or elsewhere, we should be able to dem- 
onstrate that even the untrained British rabble 
was equal, if not superior, to the highly trained 



68 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

German troops, born and educated to the one idea 
of fighting. Looking back at events after these 
more than three years we cannot but feel a thrill 
of pride at the way our men have behaved in the 
greatest war that has ever been fought for right 
against wrong. 

In June of 1915, owing to appendicitis I was 
forced to undergo an operation and had the bad 
luck to be laid up for over two months. Hearing 
from our Colonel that the battalion would soon 
be leaving for abroad I rejoined before properly 
regaining my strength, which resulted in my hav- 
ing a breakdown, and I was not allowed to accom- 
pany them when in September they left for 
France. It was a bitter night for me as I bid 
good-bye to the fellows and saw them march off 
in a dense fog shortly after midnight. Not to 
be going with them was one of the greatest dis- 
appointments of my life and I was left behind 
to clear up camp (I. C. details was the name of 
my job). How utterly dreary and deserted it 
was! The endless empty huts, the silent mess, 
which so recently had been ringing with song and 
laughter of the fellows who were so keen to get 
into the fight, and now they had gone ! 

After clearing up the camp I was laid up till 
December, when I joined the reserve battalion 



FROM CIVILIAN TO SOLDIER 69 

stationed in the Midlands and remained with it 
until March when the Medical Board (after 
strong persuasive arguments and appeals) passed 
me fit for G. S. (General Service). Needless to 
say I was delighted and immediately applied for 
embarkation leave of four days, and within a 
week was on my way to "Somewhere in France." 
' We were a jolly crowd of some hundreds of 
officers, all bound to various units, and all in the 
highest spirits. Nearly all had friends or rela- 
tives to see them off, and it was interesting to 
watch the heroic efforts of the women, wives, 
mothers, children and sweethearts to keep smil- 
ing when one knew how very near the tears were. 
But crying in public is not considered the proper 
thing for our women, and least of all when seeing 
their men going to war. Dry, or almost dry eyes 
and smiling faces were the rule. Yet one won- 
dered what would happen when the excitement 
of the departure had passed, when that crowd 
scattered and returned to their homes. They 
were proud to have their men go to fight for the 
country. Not for worlds would they have had 
them stay behind and seek soft jobs in England. 
Yet the dread of the future must have been hard 
to face. With none of the excitement which keeps 
the men at the front busy and cheerful, and pre- 



70 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

vents too much thinking, the woman has the 
harder task, the terrible task of waiting, waiting 
and always dreading the arrival of the fatal tele- 
gram which to so many means the end of all that 
they have held most dear. 

As the clock struck the hour the long crowded 
train started. Every window blocked by weather- 
browned faces anxious for the very last glimpse ' 
of the waving mass on the platform, and soon ] 
London was a thing of the past, a grey smoky 
blur. We settled ourselves down for the iour- ? 
ney, and for a time a strange quiet prevailed. | 
Men were actually thinking, yet no one would f 
have dared discuss his thoughts. Gradually con- 
versation began, began as usual with the light- 
ing of cigarettes. What a strangely sociable lit- 
tle friend is the cigarette. It breaks the ice of 
reserve among men as nothing else does and leads 
to the forming of many a friendship. 



PART II 

CHAPTER IV 

Rejoining My Battalion 

Our trip to France was entirely uneventful 
and on landing at B we all received our in- 
structions. With several others of my regiment 
I was to leave that evening for the base, Etaples, 
commonly known to Tommy Atkins as ''Eat Ap- 
ples," and we arrived in due course in the midst 
of a howling snowstorm. Guides met us and took 
us and our kits to our respective tents in which 
we were soon packed like sardines. Each man 
had his "flea bag" (sleeping bag of blanket with 
waterproof canvas cover properly known as a 
valise). In the morning after overcoming cer- 
tain difficulties in the way of shaving, etc., we 
reported to the adjutant, a delightful fellow who 
gave us our instructions. We were to draw "iron 
rations" (tinned beef, dry biscuits, marmalade, 
and a tin containing tea, sugar, and a cube of 
beef extract), gas helmets, field-dressing outfit, 

73 



74 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

and sundry other articles considered necessary for 
the welfare of the soldier, and the following day 
entrained for the Front. 

To my great delight I found myself bound for 
my old battalion. That was indeed a relief and 
a piece of extraordinary good luck. To have 
gone among a lot of strangers would have been 
hard to say the least of it. 

The train journey was slow and rather unin- 
teresting. On our way we stopped for a few 
hours at a fair- sized town where, after some dif- 
ficulty, we managed to secure a bath, of sorts. 
The French people have discovered that we are a 
very dirty race, and therefore need a great deal 
of washing, so a few wide-awake ones have bought 
large tubs, or even baths, and arranged for a lim- 
ited, strictly limited I might say, supply of hot 
water, and for the sum of two francs or so we 
are allowed to disport ourselves more or less 
according to our national custom. Privacy is 
not included in the agi^eement and while we, 
perhaps half a dozen to a room, remove the 
dust of travel, Madame and her husband 
come in and out and keep us supplied with 
water and towels. It is all a trifle primitive, but 
better than nothing. Following the bath, a fair 
dinner, with abundance of vin ordinaire put us 



REJOINING MY BATTALION 75 

all in good humour and we resumed our journey 
arriving at B 1 before midnight. The bat- 
talion was in "country" billets a few miles away, 
so we put up at the hotel and in the morning 
found the mess cart awaiting us. 

It was delightful getting back to the old lot. 
Of course many changes had taken place. They 
had been in the battle of Loos which had taken 
its toll, and the long winter months in the 
trenches had also taken a few. Still the regiment 
had been lucky and most of the old lot were there. 
It was like going home to see them all again. 
They all had had experience of war, while I was 
green, which made me feel very inferior. I was 
fortunate enough to be given a company imme- 
diately, and consequently was much pleased with 
life. Our billets were in farm houses of very 
unprepossessing appearance and most unsavoury 
odours. Does not Bairnsfather describe them as 
buildings surrounding a rectangular smell or 
words to that effect? Well, that just about fits 
it. Cleanliness was not, and in many instances 
the people were far from friendly. Notwith- 
standing the fact that they received good pay for 
all the wi^etched acconmiodation, they did noth- 
ing but grumble. The Battalion was resting, i.e., 
not in trenches, but busy with parades and exer- 



76 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

cises necessary for smartening up. I had a 
splendid lot of junior officers and our company 
mess was as jolly and harmonious as possible. 

Within a few days we received orders to move, 
but there was no intimation as to what our des- 
tination would be. One cold morning before 
daylight we started on a march of about eight 
miles to the railroad. On arriving, there was a 
short delay and we entrained for the south, the 
men chiefly in freight cars, and the officers in 
first- and second-class carriages. All day we 
moved along in a most aggravatingly slow way, 
finally detraining shortly before dusk not far 
from Amiens. We were all tired and dirty, and 
the men badly in need of tea, so as soon as the 
camp cookers were unloaded, preparations were 
made for a hot meal before proceeding on the 
next stage of our journey, about thirteen miles of 
marching. 

As darkness set in, the sky to the east reflected 
the warm glow of the guns and the cold silver 
colour of the star shells, and the low booming 
told us that we were not very far from the firing 
line. Those of us who had not been into battle 
began to realise what lay ahead of us, and we 
could not help feeling a certain queer tingling 
sensation at each burst of the ominous red light. 



REJOINING MY BATTALION 77 

My own thought was that some poor fellows 
were probably being killed or wounded, and when 
we moved along to the cheery singing or whistling 
of the men, war seemed a strange thing, a thing 
of infinitely great contrasts, and such a foolish 
and inhuman way of settling the affairs of na- 
tions. Here we were a body of men all brought 
up to peaceful pursuits to whom the idea of kill- 
ing our fellow beings or of allowing ourself to 
be killed had not come into our heads until a few 
months ago, and yet now we were like thousands 
of others marching along as cheerful as boys go- 
ing on a picnic, when if we would but give thought 
we must know that this march was taking us one 
step nearer to that wonderfully terrible thing, the 
modern shell torn, gas swept, barb-wired battle- 
field. I have often wondered whether the aver- 
age soldier does much thinking. Does he look 
ahead and analyse what is before him? I do not 
believe he does. He just plods along patiently, 
doing his allotted tasks, quite happy if his imme- 
diate body comforts are satisfied, and giving little 
or no thought to what fate may have in store. 
It is better so. 

While tea was being .erved, the French girls 
did a thriving business with chocolate, and cakes 
of low quality and high price. Tonmiy Atkins 



78 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

seldom misses an opportunity of spending his 
very small amount of money and can never refuse 
to buy from the girls, no matter what their na- 
tionality. 

Darkness set in before we were ready to move, 
and then followed a very dreary march to the 

village of La N , which was some twelve 

miles behind the front line. We were all very 
tired before starting and it took a great deal 
of work to keep things going, and in spite of all 
we could do the singing slowly died down as mile 
after mile was passed. Toward eleven o'clock 
it seemed as though that march would never end ; 
the men smiled sadly and unbelievingly when I 
told them we had only a mile and a half more to 
go; they were quite surprised to find half an 
hour later that I had really told them the truth. 
We entered the straggling village and were met 
by our billeting officer and the battalion inter- 
preter who guided us to our various quarters. 

After seeing that my company was properly 
housed in a couple of very airy barns, I joined 
the other officers and we went to our billets and 
met a delightful welcome from a couple of elderly 
French women who insisted on giving us bowls 
of black coffee with rolls and eggs. These people 
were quite a different type from those we had 




Tommy, always cheerful, manages to make himself comfortal)le, 
more or less, even in the most dilapidated of buildings. 



REJOINING MY BATTALION 79 

been staying with near the Flanders border, and 
we found everything as clean as possible and to 
our joy each of us officers had a separate bed with 
nice clean sheets, and as it was well after mid- 
night, and we had been up since three o'clock, no 
time was lost in seeking the sleep we so greatly 
needed. 

The following week we spent at the village do- 
ing a certain amount of training and attending to 
the men's equipment, special gas helmet instruc- 
tion being given on account of the Germans' con- 
tinually increasing use of this vile form of war- 
fare. At the end of the week we moved forward 

to the village of B e, which was only about 

six miles from the front. Owing to the limited 
accommodations we were closely crowded into 
our billets but still, as usual, managed to make 
the best of things, and soon settled down after 
the ordinary amount of grumbling. We were 
fortunate in having secured a most comfortable 
mess for the company officers, but it was too good 
to last. Some senior officers discovered our com- 
fort and we were promptly evicted and had to 
put up with very inferior quarters. 

It might perhaps be well to explain to the 
reader how we arrange things when we are sta- 
tioned "Somewhere in France." The Brigade, 



80 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

consisting of four Battalions, usually moves from 
place to place as a unit, but in order to allow for 
the separate disposition of the component parts, 
each company is made a complete unit which can 
be sent away without interfering in any way with 
other arrangements. This mean^ that the of- 
ficers of each company run their own mess, one 
of their numbers ( and there are usually five ahd 
sometimes six officers) acts as mess president and 
he takes charge of accounts and Wys all the 
things necessary, pays for the rooj^ and every 
week a settlement is made, the totiy^ expenditure 
being divided equally. The officers receive the 
same rations as the men and supplement this 
good, though s#hewhat unvaried, diet with such 
luxuries as eggs, fresh butter, fruit, coffee and 
whatever liquid refreshment is procurable. 

Each mess has its inevitable gi^nophone and 
receives its newspapers both- 4aily and weekly 
illustrated, and is in a way a miniature club. As 
regards the men the organisation is not very dif- 
ferent from what it is at home except that the ser- 
geants are not always able to have their own mess, 
though occasionally they manage to arrange this 
with more or less satisfactory results. Each 
company is supposed to have its own travelling 
cooker, and this usually stays with the company, 



REJOINING MY BATTALION 81 

except of course during the time we are in the 
trenches, when it stays in some reasonably safe 
place as close to the line as possible, and the 
cooked food is sent up to the men by specially 
detailed ration parties. 

At each village where any number of troops 
are quartered there is usually a Y. M. C. A. hut, 
or a converted barn, and this is a veritable god- 
send to the men, where free stationery is fur- 
nished so that letters may be written in comfort. 
It is their club. Games and music are arranged 
for whenever possible and supplies of the ordi- 
nary necessities and some modified, luxuries may 
be bought by the men at reasonabf§ prices. In 
every way these Y. M. C. A. places are of the 
greatest value and they should have the utmost 
support of all who have at heart the welfare of 
the men who are giving up everything in the way 
of home, and home comforts, in order to do their 
share to free the world from the threatened 
tyranny of German domination. The only other 
place of amusement that is to be found in our 
billeting areas is the "theatre," usually a large 
barn in which a rude stage is erected with very 
much home-made scenery and settings. In these 
theatres both plays and motion pictures are 
shown, and the diversion is most excellent as it 



82 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

takes the men's minds away from the everlasting 
military work and thought. The plays are given 
by amateurs or ex-professional men in khaki, and 
by kind-hearted theatrical people, men, who for 
some reason cannot get into the army, and 
women, who volunteer their services as a contri- 
bution toward the welfare of the men who need 
healthy amusement just as they need food and 
clothing. The theatres are to be found well with- 
in the zone of fire though seldom nearer than 
three or four miles from the actual front line 
trenches and it is not an uncommon thing to see 
a shell hole decorating the building in which the 
plays are given. 



CHAPTER V 

First View of the Trenches 

While at B e I made my first visit to the 

trenches with the three other company com- 
manders. They had all seen a fair share of trench 
life and there was no novelty to them, but to me 
everything was new and of course most interest- 
ing. As the distance from B e to where we 

were likely to be shelled was about six miles we 
made the journey on horseback in order to save 
time. Our way took us along the crowded dusty 
roads and through the one long street which com- 
prised the village of M e, where many of the 

houses were more or less destroyed by shells, and 
it struck me as strange that so many of the people 
continued to live in such unsafe quarters. From 
this village our way took us along a shell-marked 
road on the sides of which screens of burlap and 
brush were arranged to conceal the passing traf- 
fic from the eyes of the enemy. 

Beyond the village everything was desolation, 
the roadside estaminets, where the peasants used 



84 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

to meet and take the mild drinks of the country, 
were now only masses of ruin ; fields, formerly so 
well cultivated, were now barren wastes on which 
even weeds could scarcely grow. The trenches of 
the opposing sides were clearly visible as we 
rode forward, strange white chalk-edged lines on 
either side of No Man's Land. The day was 
unusually quiet and only an occasional burst of 
shell showed that the war was still on. Now and 
then a sniper's rifle would destroy the quiet with 
surprising suddenness. But the singing of the 
larks and the general air of peace and quiet were 
not at all what one would have expected to find. 
Here and there along the roadside often guarded 
by shrines and crucifixes from which gazed the 
agonised face of Christ we passed the graves of 
French soldiers who had given their lives for their 
glorious country, and on these mounds of earth 
lay faded flowers, while many of the graves were 
surmounted by a simple cross on which instead 
of the image of the crucified Christ hung the 
weather-beaten cap of the fallen man. Occa- 
sionally a khaki cap told us that one of our own 
men had been buried alongside of his French 
brother in arms and on the cross was written the 
simple yet eloquent inscription: "No. 000 private 



FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 85 
S regiment. Killed in action, February, 



19 



On reaching the ruined village of Becordel we 
dismounted and left the horses in charge of a 
gi-oom while we proceeded on our way to the 
front line. The first first half-mile was through 
the communication trenches, irregular, narrow, 
zigzag ways which led us to the main system of 
the firing line. We had been given a guide at 
the Battalion headquarters and he took us to the 
various company dugouts along the line. These 
were simple affairs lacking in most of the ordi- 
nary requirements considered necessary for com- 
fort. A rough table usually occupied the greater 
part of the excavation in addition to which there 
was something in the way of a seat or two. On 
beds composed of sandbags or ragged wire net- 
ting were sleeping officers who had been up all 
night and were now trying to snatch a wink of 
sleep. A guttering candle was the only form 
of illumination and it barely made the darkness 
visible. There were brief introductions to the 
sleepy inmates who immediately offered the in- 
evitable cigarette without which in our life at the 
front no introduction seems quite complete. 

The rough walls of the dugout were adorned 
by a few pictures from the illustrated papers. 



36 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

The usual selection being, one or two of the in- 
imitable Bairnsfather cartoons and by way of 
contrast some of the coloured pictures of fau- 
but not over-clothed damsels from La Vie Paris- 
ienne. 

After a brief talk with the fellows the company 
commander, who was a second Lieutenant, of- 
fered to take us out and show the line. He did it 
most cheerfully for our coming meant that he was 
to be relieved within a few hours and that is an 
event of considerable moment to those who oc- 
cupy the first line. For obvious reasons it is 
not advisable to have detail maps of the trenches, 
as there is always the possibility of the Germans 
making a raid, and the capturing of a map would 
be most undesirable. The trenches being some- 
what complicated it was necessary that we should 
take very careful, mental notes of everything, 
and it was surprising how many things had to be 
noted. To me, unaccustomed to trenches as I 
was, it seemed a most difficult task to obtain and 
memorise a correct and adequate picture of the 
whole system. Especially as few of the trenches 
had names on them. The lack of signs seemed 
almost inexcusable and I determined that the 
first thing I would do on "taking over" would be 



FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 87 

to put some sort of sign-board in every corner 
in order to avoid confusion. 

We found the trenches in fair condition though 
in places there were stretches of badly demolished 
line, certain spots were shelled regularly our 
guide told us and they had given up in despair 
all attempts at repairs. Each time they had tried 
to rebuild these places the enemy had interrupted 
the work after an hour or so by vigorous straf- 
ing ^ which resulted in many casualties. While 
crossing these danger zones we had to crawl to 
avoid being seen by the ever watchful German 
sniper. For the most part the trenches were 
fairly dry and the bottoms covered with "duck 
boards," i.e., wooden grills, much like the wooden 
"sidewalks" so often seen in some parts of Amer- 
ica. These prevent the bottom of the trench 
from being worn by the constant traffic and en- 
able one to walk dry shod during moderately 
rainy weather. The wet chalk or clay makes 
these boards very slippery so that walking is al- 
most impossible without hob-nailed boots, espe- 
cially for men carrying heavy loads. 

Needless to say the extraordinary regularity 
which characterises the practice trenches at home 
was entirely lacking. The size of the bays and 
traverses varied according to conditions. The 



88 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

depth alone remaining fairly constant. In most 
parts the sides were sand-bagged from the bot- 
tom up to the parapet, in others wire netting, 
wooden or iron stakes or corrugated iron sheath- 
ing were used to support the sides. Dugouts of 
many sizes and in various degrees of decrepitude 
were located at more or less convenient places, 
but there had been no effort to make them either 
comfortable or even reasonably safe. How dif- 
ferent they were from those built by the Ger- 
mans, as we were to discover before many months. 
The contrast between the two was a proof of the 
difference in the points of view. Our dugouts 
were of the crudest possible type. They showed 
that we evidently had no intention of staying in 
the neighbourhood, while the wonderfully elabo- 
rate ones made by the Germans seemed to show 
that they expected to remain indefinitely. I 
might even say for the rest of their natural lives, 
for that was to be the fate of so many of them. 
One was struck by the cleanliness of the 
trenches. No litter or refuse of any kind is al- 
lowed, and all the sanitary arrangements were 
thoroughly satisfactory. This is one of the great 
secrets of the remarkable health of our troops. 
The trenches being actually healthier than billets 
except during severe strafing and very wet 



FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 89 

weather. The things that made perhaps the 
greatest impression on me not only on this first 
visit to the front Hne, but also later on, was the 
seeming scarcity of men, the apathy and bore- 
dom, and the apparent lack of appearance of 
readiness. Here and there one saw a khaki-clad 
figure huddled under a ground cloth, looking 
for all the world as though he were dead as he 
lay on the fire-step or in some nook. In all cases 
such men are fully equipped and are never al- 
lowed to be separated from their rifle. 

Occasionally one came upon an industrious 
fellow polishing his rifle or even shaving, or what 
was still more frequent, writing letters home, for 
that is the great recreation of the men. Here and 
there a sentry would be found peering through 
a peep-hole or gazing into a home-made peri- 
scope. Unfortunately regular periscopes were 
only too rare and sticking one's head over the 
parapet is not a desirable form of amusement 
unless one wants to stay permanently in France. 
So the men showed a considerable degree of in- 
genuity in converting small shaving mirrors into 
periscopes. They were usually attached to the 
bayonet, the edge being held toward the enemy, 
so that it was scarcely visible. Any object that 
can be seen is immediately and very persistently 



90 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

used as a target by the snipers. This leads to a 
highly praiseworthy effort on the part of every 
one to be as inconspicuous as possible. 

I was very much interested in what I saw of 
the crudeness of our methods of firing rifle gre- 
nades. At this time we did not take these weap- 
ons seriously, notwithstanding the remarkably 
efficiency shown by the Huns in using them. Not 
alone did they send over immense numbers of the 
deadly grenades, but they fired them with pain- 
ful accuracy. I noticed a couple of men with 
rifles that were clumsily fastened to stakes, to 
the triggers were attached pieces of string, then 
the grenades were put into the rifle, which was 
loaded with a blank cartridge and the men 
walked behind the nearest traverse for shelter 
in case the rifles exploded. Just as the two men 
I was watching were about to fire, one remarked, 
"Wait a minute. Bill, you'll hit the bloomin' 
parapet," so Bill returned to the improvised rifle 
stand and gave the rifle butts a shove down and 
then looked along the barrels to see that the para- 
pet did not obstruct the free flight of the grenade. 
Having satisfied himself on this point he again 
sought the protection of the traverse and pulled 
the strings. After allowing a reasonable time 
for the grenades to reach their destination both 



FIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 91 

Bill and his mate looked over the top to see what 
they had hit. One grenade dropped fully fifty 
yards short of the enemy trenches and the other 
a httle nearer, but both were utterly useless. I 
did not wait to see what happened next, but the 
whole method or rather lack of method struck me 
as painfully bad, and a waste of grenades, which 
at that time were very scarce. 

In front of our trenches there was a very ir- 
regular amount of barbed-wire, scarcely enough 
to offer any effective protection against an at- 
tack. While the German lines were most elab- 
orately protected by great quantities of very 
heavy wire. More particularly was this notice- 
able in front of the second and third line of 
trenches. The distance between our line and the 
Germans varied from about fifty to two hundred 
yards. The nearest part being in the neighbour- 
hood of the Tambour where a great amount of 
mining and counter-mining was being done. The 
net result of this form of warfare seemed nega- 
tive. Neither side gained appreciable advantage, 
but so long as one side indulged in the pleasant 
pastime of trying to blow up the other side, it is 
obvious that both had to play the same game, 
only we tried to do our work a little better than 
the Germans and, be it said to our credit, our 



92 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

mines in nearly every instance were fired first, 
and that is a great and very important detail. 

The entire ground between the lines at this 
point was a mass of torn chalky earth and deep 
irregular craters — a truly ghastly confusion. 
Winding its erratic way among the craters hastily 
constructed barbed-wire entanglements were vis- 
ible, and on these hung several human bodies. 
Their tattered clothing blowing in the breeze 
gave the effect of scarecrows, the gruesome scare- 
crows of war. 

For the greater part No Man's Land was 
a desolate waste, pock-marked here and there 
with shell holes, a dreary uninviting tract over 
which the bullets of rifle and machine guns 
screamed all night and the sky larks sang during 
the comparative quiet of the day. 

To the East beyond the many lines of chalk- 
rimmed trenches lay Fricourt nestling against 
the small woods, which were beginning to show 
the faint delicate green of early spring. The vil- 
lage was fairly intact and seemed strangely 
peaceful, yet in reality it was neither more nor 
less than a fort. Everything that modern mili- 
tary science could accomplish had been done to 
render the place impregnable. Its snug home- 
like red brick cottages were bristling with ma- 



PIRST VIEW OF THE TRENCHES 93 

chine guns and its streets covered a veritable 
labyrinth of underground passages and immense 
dugouts in which thousands of troops could be 
assembled in comparative safety from our guns. 
Our guide took us through his entire lines and 
then handed us over to the officers of the adjoin- 
ing Battalion. They in turn showed us their 
trenches, and after an hour or two we returned 
to where our horses had been left, and made our 
way back to billets. 



CHAPTER VI 

At Becordel — Strafed 

Two days later we received orders to move 
forward. The Brigade was divided so as to hold 
the various integral parts of our front, and it 
fell to my lot in conjunction with another com- 
pany to take up our position at the little village 
of Becordel, which was about fifteen hundred 
yards from the front line, and from which we 
could see our own and the German trenches quite 
clearly. The village was badly dilapidated. The 
church and many of the houses were completely 
wrecked, but here and there a building remained 
in fair condition except for occasional holes in 
the walls or roof. The Germans seem to think 
that we Britishers need a lot of fresh air, and as 
soon as they know we are occupying any particu- 
lar billet, they promptly proceed to ventilate the 
rooms by means of shell holes. 

We found the fellows who were holding the 
village exceedingly pleased at the immediate 
prospect of being relieved. It appeared that 

94 



AT BBCOHBEL—STRAFED 95 

every day the Huns had indulged in a "hate 
hour" and the shells dropped into the place in a 
most promiscuous and highly unpleasant fashion. 
The result was that there had been many casu- 
alties. This of course was most reassuring and 
comforting, for we had a spell of ten days still 
before us. However, there was no use in worry- 
ing and after we had bid good-bye to the relieved 
companies (relieved is a word full of meaning in 
such cases) we began to make ourselves at home, 
picked out more or less suitable places for sleep- 
ing and messing and saw that the men were prop- 
erly housed. Then instructions were issued for 
protection in case of shelling, dugouts and cel- 
lars allotted to each platoon, and rough plans 
made in case of attack. The village was a very 
small one built roughly in the form of a T with 
an open square at the junction of the lines; at 
the side furthest from the front line trenches 
there was a small field more or less protected from 
the Germans' view by two large barns whose 
roofs had been riddled by shell and shot. 

As soon as the men had been dismissed they 
started the inevitable game of football in the 
small field. Everything was going smoothly 
when one foolish chap kicked the ball high. Ap- 



96 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

parently the Huns saw it. Now if there is one 
thing they hate besides a Britisher and an Ameri- 
can it is football. This hatred dates from the time 
at Loos when the Irish regiment dribbled a ball 
across the line toward their trenches, as one fel- 
low would fall another put the ball forward and 
this showed a lack of respect for the Hun. Such 
an attitude is disliked by the noble creature and 
to know that we contemptible Britishers were 
daring to play the game within sight of his 
trenches was insulting and he forthwith proceed- 
ed to stop it by firing a few shells. The men were 
promply ordered into shelter and I then started 
across the square to see to the safety of the rest 
of my men who were on the further side of the 
village; fortunately for me I am a slow runner, 
for I had only taken a few steps when I heard 
the whistling of a shell. Needless to say, I 
stopped, stopped very suddenly as the shell 
struck just where I would have been had I been 
a fast runner. Had we coincided I feel convinced 
that the shell would have had the best of it, as 
it was I turned and made what I am sure was a 
speed record in my endeavour to reach a place of 
safety in a nearby cellar. 

The following day passed without incident or 



AT BI^CORBBJu— STRAFED 97 

shells, and we began to feel that the Hun fright- 
fulness had been much exaggerated, so we settled 
down to enjoy a peaceful ten days in our little 
ruined village. It was not long, however, before 
our tranquillity was rudely disturbed. We were 
about to have our five o'clock tea in the open, 
outside of our improvised mess, when just as 
the tea was being poured a shell came screaming 
into the village followed quickly by another. 
This was most annoying as we had to retreat to 
the safety of the cellars and when the strafing had 
ceased our tea was quite cold. Fortunately no 
other damage had been done, except that a corner 
of our building had been shot away. That day 
our C. O. (commanding officer) paid us a visit 
and gave the order that the officers of our two 
companies must separate so as to avoid the risk of 
all of us being knocked out at one time. Under 
no condition were we all to congregate in one 
place even for meals. This meant that we must 
have our meals in relays as there was only one 
room fit for a mess. A day or so later while the 
other company were having their meal I missed 
one of my junior officers. On investigation he 
was discovered sitting in the mess. I was in 
the act of telling him that this was contrary 
to orders when my remarks were emphasised by a 



98 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

shell tearing through our verandah, a curious co- 
incidence which resulted in a race for the cellar; 
the speed with which we accomplished this act 
would have reflected great credit on a lot of agile 
rabbits getting into their burrows. 

One of our tasks while in Becordel was to fur- 
nish work parties to assist the tunnelling com- 
panies who were engaged in mining under the 
German lines. About half of our men had to go 
each night for this work, and most unpopular 
work it was, both for officers and men, especially 
during wet weather. The enemy knew exactly 
where our mine heads were situated and amused 
himself regularly each night by dropping shells 
and rifle grenades among the work parties. The 
previous occupants of our village had suffered 
heavy casualties in this way, so we were not sur- 
prised when during the following night work the 
officers reported several wounded and one killed. 
Later on when the men had finished their allotted 
task earlier than usual some of them were seized 
with the souvenir-hunting craze and crawled out 
in No Man's Land to look for unexploded gren- 
ades. Unfortunately they discovered a few and 
in coming through the narrow trench on their way 
back to the village one let his fall ; it exploded and 
caused no less than ten casualties. This resulted 



AT BECORDEL— ^STi^^FED 99 

in an order that under no condition was any man 
allowed to touch unexploded shells or grenades. 

The following day two of the victims of this 
unfortunate tragedy were brought through the 
village for burial in the little cemetery nearby. 
It was the first time I had seen one of those pa- 
thetically simple funerals. The bodies were sewn 
up in Army blankets (which the Germans with 
their high degree of efficiency would have consid- 
ered criminal waste) and borne on light two- 
wheeled stretcher carriers; there was no guard or 
firing party, no one but the Padre and the men 
who pushed the stretchers, and so they were taken 
to their last resting place over which two more 
small crosses would be added to the thousands, 
yes hundreds of thousands that will remain in 
France to mark England's dead, her part in 
the great sacrifice for the rights of humanity. 

Many strange things happened during the 
night operations. I was told that on several oc- 
casions the Germans had sent a man over dressed 
in our uniform. The fellow would crawl along 
and watch his chance to join our work party, 
with them he would work until an hour or so be- 
fore daylight and then vanish with complete lack 
of ostentation, probably carrying valuable in- 
formation regarding our mining operation. Such 



100 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

a task certainly requires courage and no one 
could help admiring a man who would take the 
risks. 

Each of our officers took turns in conducting 
the work parties, and my turn happened on a 
fine and fairly quiet night. After handing over 
my men to the various tasks allotted to them 
by the mining officer, I visited their dugout, had 
a bite of supper and then accepted the invitation 
to go down the shafts. These were about one 
hundred feet deep and we went down on rope 
ladders. I was glad that many years of my early 
life had been spent at sea as it made the ladder 
descent a little less unpleasant. 

On arriving at the bottom, I was allowed to 
take one of the listening devices, a sort of micro- 
phone which was fastened in the ground. By 
listening carefully I could hear the Germans 
working at their mines, apparently very near. It 
was an uncanny, queer, and not at all pleasing 
sensation being down there in the dark damp hole 
listening to men working with the sole object of 
blowing you to pieces, and I could not help think- 
ing of what would happen should they decide to 
set off their mines while I was down in the stuffy, 
heated and very cramped place. 

To tell the truth I did not enjoy the experience 



AT BBCORDEL—STRAFED 101 

and was only too glad when my guide had finished 
his inspection and suggested returning to the sur- 
face again, but my joy was short lived for on ar- 
riving at the top I found that I was expected to 
go down two more of the shafts. Pride alone pre- 
vented my saying that I had had quite enough to 
satisfy my curiosity, especially as I was being 
entertained by blood-curdling stories of how 
mines had been fired by the Huns at unexpected 
moments with horrible results to the wretched 
men who were working below. 

In going along the trenches I noticed cages of 
canaries and thought how nice it was for the men 
to have their pets with them, they gave a sort 
of touch of home. I was however, surprised to 
learn that these birds are taken down the saps 
as a test of the purity of the air. If they die the 
men know that the air is foul and unfit for human 
beings to breath so the supply of fresh air sent 
down by the pumps must be increased immedi- 
ately. Not so very home-like after all! 

It appeared that when we first took over this 
part of the line, the Germans had the advantage 
in the mining, but that for some time past our fel- 
lows had gained in every point. We had found 
a way of ascertaining when the enemy intended 
to fire his charge and thereafter we invariably 



102 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

fired ours first, with results entirely satisfactory 
from our point of view. This underground form 
of fighting is one of the many strange and ghastly 
developments of modern warfare and perhaps 
none calls for a greater degree of nerve control. 
It is no wonder indeed that the men frequently 
break down under the long-continued strain of 
working in awkward, cramped positions, the ter- 
rible suspense, and the long hours spent in the 
foul air, and it is astonishing that human beings 
can be found who will volunteer for it, knowing 
well what hardships it entails. 

Shortly before daylight appeared, I was told 
that the men had completed their tasks and that 
they had given entire satisfaction and only one 
had been wounded (they were nearly all miners 
and thoroughly understood everything connect- 
ed with the work they had been doing), so we 
made our way out along the narrow crooked 
trenches and arrived at our village in good time 
for breakfast. 

During the rest of our stay at Becordel noth- 
ing of great importance occurred; as a rule we 
received about five shells each day just to relieve 
the monotony; strange to say we did not suffer 
a single casualty from these shells, and lost very 
few men among the nightly work parties. The 



AT BF^CORDBLSTRAFED 103 

only work of importance we had to do was the 
planning of an effective scheme of defence and 
construction of dugouts. How it was the Huns 
did not give us a thorough and effective bom- 
bardment I could not understand as they could 
very easily have wiped us out with a few large 
shells. 

On the ninth day of our stay, officers from the 
relieving companies came to inspect the place. 
They had heard terrible stories of the village 
and were greatly relieved when told how we 
had fared, and returned to their billets very much 
pleased with the prospect of a pleasant stay in 
our mass of ruins. That night, shortly before 
the ration party arrived, as it always did about 
nine o'clock, the Huns sent an extra allowance 
vof shells and two whiz-bangs (field artillery 
shells, so called because the whiz and the bang, 
that is to say the noise of the shell coming through 
the air, and the explosion are almost simulta- 
neous: if you hear the "whiz" you are alive, if 
you do not you are likely to be dead) landed 
in the street exactly where the ration party usu- 
ally stopped. When the party arrived we showed 
them the holes and it was surprising how quickly 
the rations were unloaded and the horses driven 
off at their utmost speed. They had not gone 



104 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

more than a few hundred yards when several 
shells dropped in their immediate vicinity, but 
fortunately caused no damage, and the sound of 
galloping horses caused a considerable amount of 
amusement among our fellows, who imagine that 
the transport men have far too easy a time and 
run little or no risk. 

The next day we packed up our belongings 
and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the relief. 
They were not very pimctual and it was late in 
the afternoon before they finally arrived so we 
lost no time in turning over the place to them. 
I regret to say they had very bad luck; within 
an hour after their arrival they were caught by 
some shells and lost several officers and a number 
of men. Their ill-fortune continued throughout 
their stay and they suffered unusually heavy 
losses both while working at night in the trenches 
and in the village itself. It is curious how luck, 
good or bad, seems to go with certain Battalions. 
For a long time past this lot had experienced 
nothing but ill fortune while we had earned the 
name of "God's own" for our exceptionally light 
casualties and general good luck. Later the tide 
turned against us and we suffered terrible losses. 

The march back from Becordel to our rest bil- 
lets was made on one of the finest nights I can 



I 



AT BECORBEIu— STRAFED 105 

remember, a clear full moon lighted our road and 
every one was in the best of spirits; on the way 
we stopped at a place where the camp cookers 
awaited us, and had tea ; it was like a regular pic- 
nic and then in the cool of the night we continued 

our way reaching our former billets at La N e 

about midnight, all wholesomely tired and quite 
ready for a well-earned sleep. 

The day following a spell in the front line is 
always more or less slack, a general cleaning up 
is necessary and there are no parades. As the 
baths would not be available for my company un- 
til the following day, I took the men to a little 
river not far from the village and allowed them to 
indulge in a swim. The British Tommy has a 
mania for washing, and one of our greatest trou- 
bles is to keep him from bathing in all sorts of 
places whether they are suitable or not. It is a 
good fault but causes a certain amount of worry 
and anxiety. I once found some of my men bath- 
ing in a large pool in v/hich were numerous dead 
rats, and these rats were by no means recent. The 
excuse was that there was no other water avail- 
able. The whole question of water supply is a 
very serious one and of course the drinking of any 
that has not been tested is absolutely prohibited 
and men are severely punished for violation of 



106 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the order. Practically all the water issued to us 
is chlorinated which makes it safe but very nasty. 
However one gets used to anything, even the 
flavour of chloride of lime in tea, and this is a 
severe test of one's adaptability. 

During our stay in La N e we had to do a 

great deal of trench digging. Rest billets are so 
named because one gets everything except rest. 
It is always work and more work and the great- 
est ingenuity is displayed by those who arrange 
our itinerary in avoiding any blank periods ; each 
hour is filled to its limit of sixty minutes, though 
we are never expected to work more than 24 
hours per day. Of course it keeps us out of mis- 
chief and certainly does not hurt our health and 
there is not the least opportunity for getting soft. 

The trench digging that we were ordered to do 
had a definite object, we had to reproduce the 
German trench system which lay in front of our 
line. Rumour had it that we were planning a 
great offensive along an extended front and that 
our division was to have the line opposite Fri- 
court, a charming spot which promised well in the 
way of excitement. No one knew when the of- 
fensive was to be undertaken but there was a great 
amount of suppressed excitement at the prospect 
of actually attacking the Hun seriously and on a 



AT BECORBEL— STRAFED 107 

long front, and the men worked with a consider- 
able degree of enthusiasm. Of course we were not 
allowed to discuss the scheme, but naturally every 
one of us recognised the arrangement of the 
staked-out lines that we were digging. The plan 
was made from a large series of aeroplane photo- 
graphs and was therefore fairly accurate, quite 
sufficiently so for our purpose. 

Few people realise the amount of preparation 
that is necessary for a big offensive, the intricate 
detail is bewildering, nothing can be left to 
chance, from the important question of water 
supply at each stage of the advance, to the posi- 
tion of the ammunition reserves, the food, the 
surgical requirements, the number of men needed, 
and the placing of them, it is an endless chain 
of detail. There must be complete co-ordination 
of the various branches of the army, so that no 
unit shall fail. Not only is there the main plan 
for the attack which presumes more or less com- 
plete success, but alternative plans must be 
worked out with equal elaboration. Even the 
chance of failure must be most carefully consid- 
ered and provided for. All of this is done by the 
Staff at G. H. Q., then each Division works out 
its own plans, each Brigade of each Division does 
the same, and again each Battalion and each com- 



1^- 



m 



108 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

pany until finally minute orders are issued to each 
platoon, so that every man knows exactly what is 
expected of him. The trenches we had to dig 
were a small part of the preparations and were 
intended for use in instructing the Brigade. Over 
these trenches different schemes and formations 
for the attack were tried, until by repeated prac- 
tice every one knew what he must do when the 
great attack was launched. The whole thing was 
extremely elaborate and very satisfactory. 

The work, together with certain parades, oc- 
cupied practically all our time and energy, and 
our ten days passed only too rapidly. At the 
end of the period we moved forward a few miles 

to the village of V e, when for another ten 

days we were kept busy with various branches of 
training. These included demonstrations of li- 
quid fire and gas, and I can safely say that no 
part of the training is so thoroughly disliked. 
It is bad enough to be forced to face these bar- 
barous forms of warfare when actually fighting, 
but to enter a trench in cold blood and have liquid 
fire launched at the trench is, to put it mildly, 
very terrifying. We were using instruments 
which had been captured from the Germans ; they 
consisted of reservoirs containing oil under high 
pressure; the man who carries the infernal ma- 



AT BECORDEL— *Sri2^F£Z> 109 

chine directs the fire by means of a long nozzle 
which is pointed toward the enemy; as the oil is 
released by pressing a valve to which is arranged 
a fire jet it is ignited, and belches forth a verita- 
ble breath of hell with a deafening roar like Niag- 
ara Falls. Anything better calculated to strike 
terror into the heart of man would be difficult to 
imagine. Yet our men had to submit to this at- 
tack in order that they might realise how little 
danger there was if they knew how to act, the 
great precaution being the necessity of keeping as 
flat as possible in the bottom of the trench, as the 
fire does not fall. 

On April 30, I received instructions to ride 
forward the following day with another of the 
company commanders to inspect the line of 
trenches that we were shortly to occupy ; my line 
was to be the part adjoining the much dreaded 
Tambour so I looked forward to a very lively ten 
days as the Germans were particularly active on 
this section. Early in the morning we started 
and rode to within about three miles of the line 
and from there proceeded along the road on foot. 
We found that this road was subject to a cer- 
tain amount of shelling and in several places 
there were large holes, which testified to the ac- 
curacy of the enemy's shooting. On nearing the 



110 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

outskirts of Becordel we came upon a nasty 
smash-up. Two shells had made direct hits on 
our horse transport with disastrous results. The 
wagons were completely demolished and several 
horses were blown to pieces. Curiously enough 
only one man had been killed and of him there 
was nothing left but bits of his clothing which 
were scattered about the banks on either side of 
the road. The rest of the men had been more or 
less badly wounded. That they were not all killed 
was marvellous. 

On arriving at the headquarters of the Bat- 
talion which was occupying the trenches, we were 
given guides, without which no one is permitted 
to go into the forward lines. There had been a 
heavy rain during the night, so the trenches were 
in an unpleasantly slippery condition. Our prog- 
ress was slow and very tiresome and it was some 
time before we reached the company dugouts. 
When we finally arrived we were received most 
cordially and were shown everything necessary. 

The Huns were not sending over much heavy 
stuff that day, but they treated us to a liberal al- 
lowance of rifle grenades which added very little 
to our pleasure as we made the rounds. Having 
already visited these trenches on several occa- 
sions, I felt familiar with them, but since my last 



I 




AEROPLANE PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING THE OPPOSING LINES 
OF TRENCHES NEAR FRICOURT 

It is from photographs such as this one that we keep our maps 
[see page 176] corrected day by day. 




AEROPLANE PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING PART OF THE 
GERMAN LINES 

The soHd white line is tlie sunken road mentioned in the nar- 
rative. 



AT BE.CORBBJ.—STRAFED 111 

visit the enemy had been behaving badly and we 
were shown whole sections of trench that had been 
destroyed by shells. The occupying company had 
suffered a large number of casualties and had 
been unable to do much in the way of reconstruc- 
tion. The company officer said that every time 
he had attempted repairs the work party had 
been shelled and that finally he had given it up 
in despair. I was naturally interested in his re- 
port and inquired as to his methods. He said 
they found that in every case the shelling would 
begin after the men had been working in one 
part for half an hour or more, so I determined 
to try very short shifts. That the trenches must 
be repaired was imperative, if we wished to live 
in any sort of comfort and safety. For in their 
present condition they were scarcely fit to be oc- 
cupied. 

It was late in the afternoon when we bid our 
hosts good-bye with the promise that we should 
arrive promptly at the appointed hour two days 
later, and arrangements were made for meet- 
ing the platoon guides at a suitable place. In 
this part of the line the reliefs were carried out 
in daylight; this is far more comfortable than 
when done at night, which is necessary in some 
sections. So far as comfort goes the night re- 



lis WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

lieving has absolutely nothing to recommend it, 
but it has to be done when the opposing lines are 
divided by perhaps less than fifty yards. 

In returning to M e, where our horses had 

been left, we were told to avoid the road and fol- 
low a little gully near which a new communica- 
tion trench was being dug in order that men could 
be moved forward with less risk. On either side 
of the gully we had a number of heavy batteries 
which the Germans were always trying to "find," 
i.e., hit. 

As we made our way along several shells 
passed overhead singing their drooning song of 
death. Now and then they would fall in the 
fields on either side of us making a lot of un- 
necessary noise and sending great clouds of earth 
in the air. About a hundred and fifty yards away 
on our right I noticed a hare hoppmg along in a 
field apparently not realising that he was in a 
most unhealthy part of the world. Suddenly 
there was a tearing screaming sound and a shell 
landed not fifty feet away from the poor animal. 
For a moment he was stunned and probably 
wondered what sort of giant sportsmen were af- 
ter him, and then in a most bewildered way he 
went round and round as hard as he could, grad- 
ually increasing the circle, when another shell 



AT BECORBF.T— STRAFED 113 

came and sent up a shower of earth. I thought 
my little friend must have been killed, but as the 
air cleared I saw his white tail disappearing with 
commendable speed over the brow of the hill. 

On reaching M e we got our horses and 

started back but had scarcely gone halfway 
through the village when the gas gong sounded. 
The ominous warning sent men scurrying about 
and within a minute every one appeared in gas 
helmets ; what a queer grotesque effect they pre- 
sented, scarcely human! Being on horseback we 
thought we could avoid the gas by galloping, but 
before long the smell of the deadly fumes reached 
us and we had to put on our helmets. The fellow 
with me was only acting company commander 
and had no experience with horses ; riding was in 
fact a painful performance for him, especially if 
the animal went faster than a walk. He dis- 
mounted to adjust his helmet and forgot to re- 
tain hold of his horse and of course the beast went 
off, much to the fellow's astonishment. After 
some difficulty I recovered his mount for him and 
we proceeded along the road warning all trans- 
port of the gas. Horses were promptly unhar- 
nessed and taken back as fast as possible, for in 
those days the animals were not provided with 
the protection of gas helmets. This was my first 



114 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

experience of the much dreaded gas and I confess 
it scared me badly. By the time we had gone a 
few miles the air was practically clear of the poi- 
son as the wind had died down with the coming 
of evening. 



il 



CHAPTER VII 
In the Front Line Trenches 

Two days later we left billets at V e and 

moved forward in the usual formation adopted 
near the front when the Battalions never move 
in the ordinary column of route. This makes 
such a conspicuous line that it is considered un- 
safe, so we move in platoons several hundred 
yards apart. The road was so filled with traffic 
of all sorts that we were forced to form "two 
deep" as there was not room to go in fours. 

At the appointed hour we arrived at the place 
where our guides met us and each platoon was 
taken through the long irregular communication 
trench to its destination; as it reached the front 
line, the relieving and very much relieved platoon 
filed out from the opposite end and down the out- 
ward-bound trench. In company with the ser- 
geant-major I took over all trench stores and 
signed the necessary documents and bid good-bye 
to the officer in charge, but not before he had 
given us the pleasant news that after I had left 

115 



116 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the previous day the enemy had been unusually 
active and had given them a very bad time killing 
and wounding a number of men and still further 
damaging the trenches. A corner about ten yards 
from the company dugout had been completely 
blown away and a man who was passing at the 
time had vanished, only one of his boots having 
been recovered. (Later we found one of his legs 
nearly a hundred yards away.) Naturally this 
did not fill us full of joy, and I own to a feeling 
closely akin to dislike for war in general and 
trench warfare in particular. It is one thing to 
run the chance of being killed while doing some- 
thing that looks like fighting, but to be potted 
while quietly ( ?) holding a piece of trench is not 
exhilarating at all. One feels like a cornered rat. 

My line of trench included a frontage of nearly 
three hundred yards; this gave a hundred yards 
to each of three platoons while the fourth was 
kept in reserve in the support line a hundred 
yards further back. From the condition of the 
trenches it was evident that the right sector which 
bordered on the Tambour was by far the hottest 
part, so I decided that those who held it should 
be relieved by the support platoon at the end of 
five days. 

By the time the men had been assigned to 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 117 

their various posts the sun went down and soon 
after we indulged in the regular hours' stand-to. 
During this time, every one is on duty and the 
fire-step is manned. Nothing occurred to relieve 
the quiet of the evening except a volley of five 
rifle grenades which fortunately did no harm. 
After dark the usual listening patrols were 
posted and then we settled down to the long 
dreary night of watching. These nights seem 
very long and very monotonous, each side fires a 
number of shots across No Man's Land, both with 
rifle and machine gun, this constant sharp punc- 
tuating of the stillness of night seems actually to 
add to the monotony. Each machine gun is sup- 
posed to fire about a thousand rounds in short 
volleys of ten or fifteen shots. The idea is to dis- 
courage the enemy from doing any prowling 
about near the waste of No Man's Land and pre- 
vent wiring parties from getting too much pleas- 
ure out of life. Star shells, or Verey-lights, are 
sent up with a frequency that is quite disconcert- 
ing if one happens to be doing any work outside 
of the parapet, and it is astonishing how conspicu- 
ous these cold blue lights make a man feel. Oc- 
casionally the Huns sent something over to re- 
mind us that they were not asleep, and the dull 



118 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

explosions of the bursting shells made the still- 
ness which followed all the more noticeable. 

At intervals during the night the company 
commander is supposed to go the round of his 
lines to see that everything is correct and the 
stumbling along the dark trenches, being chal- 
lenged at every bay by the unseen figures, is most 
uncanny. Having heard that occasionally a Ger- 
man, dressed in our uniform, finds his way un- 
detected into our trenches and goes along gather- 
ing what information he can, I had instructed our 
men to be extremely careful and let no man pass 
no matter what his rank might be until he was 
properly identified. This caution to the men led 
to a somewhat amusing incident a few nights 
later, but only by good luck was it amusing. It 
nearly ended seriously. 

An officer of the tunneling company was com- 
ing to pay me a visit on his way to inspect certain 
saps at the left of my line. On coming round a 
traverse he was challenged suddenly. In reply 
he gave his name and business, but the sentry was 
not satisfied and insisted on a close examination. 
The officer stood still while the sentry with fixed 
bayonet approached to within a few feet and 
asked numerous questions, at the same time call- 
ing another man to his assistance. Fearing 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 119 

treachery the overzealous sentry kept his finger 
on the trigger of the rifle. Probably owing to 
nervous contraction of the finger the rifle went 
off unexpectedly, and the bullet passed unpleas- 
antly close to the wretched officer's head. It is 
difficult to say who was the more surprised or 
frightened. The unfortunate sentry thought at 
first that he had killed the officer, but a vigorous 
torrent of colourful language convinced him 
that he had not added a name to the casualty 
list, and he was equally convinced as to the na- 
tionality of the almost-victim. 

The officer came to my dugout and reported 
the matter and when I suggested bringing the 
man up for his behaviour he would not hear of it 
as it showed what he described as commendable 
alertness and thoroughness, the latter perhaps 
slightly overdone. Later, I interviev/ed the sen- 
try who was in a state bordering on nervous col- 
lapse. He was quite surprised to find that no 
charge would be made. I was sorry that it was 
not a German who had come along instead of one 
of our own fellows. 

During the night most of the men are allowed 
to rest unless assigned to special duty such as 
repair work, wiring or patrol. A certain number, 
one or two in each bay keep careful watch while 



120 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the others sit about ready at all times for any 
emergency, none being allowed to enter dugouts 
or leave the immediate neighbourhood of their 
bay. In most of the bays there is a gas gong, 
usually an empty brass shell case, at the first 
suspicion of gas these gongs are sounded and as 
the signal goes along the line every man is ready 
with his protection helmet. When the wind is 
favourable it is of the utmost importance that 
extra lookouts be posted to watch for the poison. 
Any little mist drifting across No Man's Land is 
likely to be mistaken for gas and results frequent- 
ly in the sounding of the alarm. Speed is so nec- 
essary that it is far better to err on the side of 
overcaution, at the same time it must be remem- 
bered that the gas alarm is likely to '*put the 
wind up," i.e., give the men a scare, especially 
among new men, and so it is not advisable that it 
should be sounded without cause. 

To avoid worrying about the direction of the 
wind, I made a very sensitive wind vane. This 
was attached to an old bayonet found in No 
Man's Land and placed outside my dugout in 
such a position that it was clearly visible. When 
the wind blew from the enemy we of course took 
extra precaution. It is interesting to note that 
in the way of wind the Almighty has arranged 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 121 

things in our favour notwithstanding the German 
boast of divine aid. Throughout the North East- 
ern part of France and Flanders the prevailing 
wind is more or less westerly. This means that 
we can employ gas more frequently than those 
who started the vile form of warfare. It is hard 
to understand how the Germans could have been 
so careless when they made their compact and 
goes to show how careful people should be. 

The men are so accustomed to strange and 
brutal forms of German warfare that they imag- 
ine almost anything unusual is associated in some 
way with the enemy. An amusing example of 
this occurred one evening when an immense cloud 
of cockchafers ( insects resembling the American 
June-bug, but rather larger) came to us from 
the German line. The men seeing the apparently 
endless mass of flying insects thought they were 
in for some new Hun horror and I had great diffi- 
culty in persuading them that it was a perfectly 
natural phenomenon, and that the insects were 
quite harmless. Although it is true that I had 
never seen the cockchafer in anything like the 
numbers that appeared. The noise they made 
falling on the wooden duckboards, scrambling 
over the loose chalk or hitting against our ''tin 



122 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

hats" made the task of the listening-posts ex- 
tremely difficult. 

I did not attempt to have any repair work car- 
ried on the first night in the trenches as the men 
were very tired and we had no empty sand bags, 
so beyond sending out a listening patrol noth- 
ing was done. Immediately before daylight we 
had the customary one hour stand-to which 
passed as usual without much excitement, and 
then the men had their breakfasts, after which 
rifles were cleaned and inspected and those men 
not detailed for duties were allowed to get what 
sleep they could. As company commander I had 
to send in various reports and I came to the con- 
clusion that though nominally permitted to sleep 
during the daytime the permission was somewhat 
of a joke owing to the almost hourly reports on 
such things as casualties, direction and force of 
wind, number of grenades, amount of ammuni- 
tion and rockets and general altitude of the ene- 
my, and how many and what kinds of shells, etc., 
he had presented to us and what we had re- 
turned. 

In those days things were very one-sided. 
The Huns had apparently endless ammunition 
while we had very little. So our reports would 
read something like this. "Enemy fairly active. 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 123 

between 6.30 and 7.30 A. M. 25 shells landed 
on our support line from point X to Y also 
45 rifle grenades, most of which fell near point 
W. From 8 A. M. till noon 30 shells and about 
100 rifle grenades fell on line between Y and 
U. Trench badly damaged. We retaliated at 
9.30 A. M. by firing 5, 5.4 shells at X 20d 
7.2 and 15 rifle grenades distributed on enemy 
front line from X 20b 7.2 and X 26b 9.2." 
This is about as high a proportion as we could ob- 
tain and showed approximately our daily allow- 
ance, while the Germans would frequently give 
us twice or even three times the above number. 

Besides the reports I had to send in requisi- 
tions for anything necessary. I mentioned my 
very keen desire for periscopes every day but up 
to the time of my leaving none appeared, so we 
had to manage with our home-made contrivances. 
I even suggested that if regular periscopes were 
not available I would greatly welcome penny 
mirrors for which I would gladly pay, but these 
are not part of govermnent stores and so none 
came. 

The mention of these reports brings to my 
memory a certain day when I felt that a little 
sleep was due; for some time there had been a 
rather undue amount of enemy activity, such ac- 



124> WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

tivity interferes with sleep. So I determined to 
make up a little of the shortage. With this in 
view I made out my reports and arranged that 
they should be sent off at the proper hours, and 
that if anything occurred while I was asleep that 
would interfere with the accuracy of the said 
reports I was to be called. Then having per- 
suaded most of the rats to leave the immediate 
vicinity of my sacred person I wrapped my 
mackintosh around me and went to my chicken- 
wire-and-sand-bag bed. Sleep was gradually 
coming, when with unpardonable rudeness and 
customary insistance the telephone called me, 
"Are you there?" said some one miles away. 
"Yes, unfortunately I am," said I in a very un- 
friendly way; "what's wanted?" 

"Please send immediately the names of any 
men in your company who can play musical in- 
struments and what instruments they can play," 
said the unsympathetic voice from the region of 
No-shells and Much-comfort. 

"What for and who for?" said I with increas- 
ing and surprised indignation. 

"The Divisional Band." 

"Damn the band," said I in my haste and 
replaced the receiver with a slam. 

Now who can say that I was not justified? 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 125 

Imagine my going round to the wretched tired 
men and asking each one what instruments they 
played. Even the strictest discipline would not 
have prevented them from wishing me in some 
place in which only asbestos instruments could 
be safely used. I confess I felt thoroughly in- 
subordinate. 

I was much interested to notice that my dug- 
out received each day a great amount of attention 
from German snipers. The shots always struck 
about the same spot which happened to be direct- 
ly over my "bed"; besides the bullets a few rifle 
grenades were also dropped on the same place 
at odd moments. For a long time I was at a 
loss to understand why this should be, so one eve- 
ning I crawled over the parapet and took a look 
at the sky line of my dugout as seen from the 
enemy point of view and discovered a small stake 
protruding about two feet above the earth work. 
This evidently was mistaken for a periscope, and 
was the target which attracted so much unwel- 
come attention; on removing it the firing ceased. 

My dugout was a very primitive affair about 
ten feet square, and six feet high with the floor 
two feet or so below the level of the trench. The 
sides were of chalk, and the roof composed of 
corrugated iron, covered with an absurdly thin 



126 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

layer of chalk, loose and in sand bags ; every time 
a shot struck anywhere near, the chalk would 
come rattling down, and when a shell exploded 
within a hundred yards it caused a regular ava- 
lanche ; even the rats, which were very numerous, 
caused the chalk to fall so that sleeping was dif- 
ficult. Speaking of rats they really were a great 
nuisance, their surprising boldness and persis- 
tence was extraordinary. Food was taken from 
the table without the slightest hesitation, even 
while we were there, and when it happened that 
we were called away during a meal, if we forgot 
to tell our servants* to keep guard, the food 
would completely disappear in an incredibly short 
time. Then, too, while sleeping, these pests, both 
rats and mice, were very annoying. Several men 
were quite badly bitten while asleep and inciden- 
tally I may add having the brutes run over one's 
body was somewhat trying. 

The "furniture" of the dugout was of a thor- 
oughly primitive description; it consisted simply 
of a sort of rough table, narrow and unsteady, 
over which was a rack for food. This was hung 
by wires so that the rats and mice could not get 

* The word servant, according to the custom in the British Army, 
applies to our soldier servants who accompany the officer where- 
ever he goes and takes care of his belongings in case he is 
wounded. 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES IST 

to it without doing acrobatic stunts, and for- 
tunately only a few were experts in that line. 
Some ammunition boxes served as seats, and two 
tiers of bunks made of very ragged mesh wire 
completed the list. For illumination we had can- 
dles, but owing to the scarcity they had to be used 
sparingly. Our "mess" kitchen was a rough dug- 
out less than fifty feet away in a direct line, but 
a couple of shells had wrought such havoc in the 
trench between the two dugouts, that it was nec- 
essary to make a wide detour in going from one 
to the other. The Huns seemed to know our meal 
times and invariably selected the moment when 
our servants were bringing us food to drop a few 
of the cursed rifle grenades on or near the path, 
and it was quite amusing to hear the servants 
apologise for bringing a soup plate with scarcely 
a spoonful of soup left. A grenade having caused 
the man to start violently while he was carrying 
the plate. I will say one thing for our service, 
we usually got the food pretty hot as speed be- 
tween dugouts was always considered desir- 
able. Often the men came in at the double, this 
meant that a shell or grenade had been heard in 
the air. The result was a race, and frequently a 
wasteful distribution of food along the trench. 
During the first few days I had done my shav- 



128 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

ing and washing at about eight o'clock in the 
morning, but the Huns latterly selected that hour 
for some grenade practice, so I had to change my 
plans. I strongly advise the use of safety razors 
for trench shaving, as sudden explosions are apt 
to cause a degree of jerkiness not at all conducive 
to comfort and good results when the ordinary 
razor is being used. 

After the first night I started having the 
trenches repaired and parapets replaced, and by 
working according to the short term plan already 
mentioned a fair amount of work had been car- 
ried out with very few casualties. About twenty 
minutes was the limit of comparative safety. 
On several occasions the working party had 
scarcely left the place before trouble would 
come, chiefly in the form of rifle grenades ; these, 
though disastrous to men, do not damage the 
trenches, but sometimes heavy stuff was sent over 
and the new work would be completely de- 
stroyed; one piece of line I had repaired eight 
times and when we left, it was once more a mass 
of wreckage. Of course no work that showed 
against the sky-line could be attempted by day- 
light and even if done at night it was not desirable 
to make any conspicuous change or addition, for 




MESSAGE SENT BY AUTHOR FROM BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS 
DURING THE MORNING OF THE BATTLL 




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MAGNETIC COMPASS BEARINGS LAID OUT TO BE FOLLOWED 
BY THE TWO ASSAULTING BATTALIONS OF OUR BRIGADE 
DURING THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME 



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DESCRIPTION OF ENEMY's ATTITUDE AS EXPERIENCED BY THE 
AUTHOR AND HANDED BY HIM TO THE RELIEVING COMPANY 
COMMANDER FOR HIS INFORMATION 



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LIST OF WORK TO BE DONE BY THE COMPANY WHICH 
RELIEVED THE AUTHOR 

This list is handed to the new Company Commander and is 
used by him as a clue to the work that has been done and what 
is still necessary. 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 129 

it always enjoyed a strafing as soon as the Huns 
discovered it. 

An idea of the number of sand-bags required 
in order that the trenches be kept in fair condi- 
tion may be gained from the fact that in my com- 
pany line, which was between two and three hun- 
dred yards in length we used from 1500 to 2000 
new sand-bags every ten days. Allowing that 
even 1000 were used on the average it gives a 
total of about 70,000 per day for our entire line, 
or approximately 255,500,000 per year for repairs 
alone. This may not be very exact, as various 
parts of the line differ so greatly, still it gives 
some suggestion of the vast quantity of this one 
article of war material which is needed. 

The trench leading to my dugout had been 
widened to such a degree by repeated shells that 
it no longer afforded adequate protection. Re- 
pairs were urgently needed if I wished to con- 
tinue in occupation, so one fine day I ordered 
eight men to rebuild the sides that had fallen 
down. As soon as I had shown them exactly 
what was needed I went into my dugout to write 
out some reports ; within five minutes a loud sharp 
explosion announced the arrival of a rifle gre- 
nade, following it came a cry of pain and I rushed 
out. The men had scattered immediately, ac- 



130 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

cording to instructions in such cases, but one poor 
chap lay on the ground badly wounded. Know- 
ing full well that the Germans nearly always 
send a succession of not less than three or four 
grenades, I hastily gathered the man in my arms 
intending to carry him into the dugout, where 
he would be more or less out of danger. The 
ground was wet and very slippery, which added 
to my troubles and made the man seem unusually 
heavy. No sooner had I started to walk than the 
singing of a grenade warned me that I must 
hurry, but strange to say my feet seemed nailed 
to the ground, and I simply could not move, it was 
a case of undiluted terror, for I knew that the 
grenade was coming straight toward me. I was 
paralysed, and waited, expecting to be blown to 
bits the next instant. My body might save the 
already wounded man, but even that was doubt- 
ful, I wanted to drop the poor fellow but feared 
that he would object. 

How long it took that wretched death-dealing 
instrument to fall! Thousands of things flashed 
through my mind during that time which was not 
of more than a few seconds' duration. Then at 
last it came whistling into the trench, striking 
barely three yards behind me. I waited — but 
nothing happened. I even turned to look at 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 131 

it, and could scarcely believe my eyes, for there 
it lay quiet and harmless on the ground. One 
look was enough. I moved — and moved quickly, 
into the dugout where I dressed the man's wounds 
before sending him with two of the others who 
were slightly wounded to the dressing station. 

The grenade was afterward brought to me, it 
was a "dud" and as usual proved to be one of 
those made before the war, as it bore the 1914 
date. It is interesting to note that nearly all 
the rifle grenades we found on our front bore the 
date of 1914, and all had the solid copper bars 
which are the length of a rifle barrel and the same 
diameter as the bore. 

This shows two things : first, that the Germans 
must have had an unheard-of quantity of these 
weapons, for on my own company front, which 
as already stated was between two and three hun- 
dred yards in length we received from 50 to 200 
grenades each day ; assuming that even 350 were 
fired at every mile of our line, it would mean that 
about 35,000 were used each daj^ on the British 
front or perhaps 9,775,000 per year; and this was 
toward the end of the second year of the war. 
Second, that the Germans who were known to be 
short of copper had not removed the unnecessary 



132 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

copper bars, for which a substitute could have 
been used shows how busy they were. 

Later on the repair work was resumed and fin- 
ished in a few days without further mishap, 
though there were several narrow escapes and no 
one seemed particularly fascinated with the 
neighbourhood. 

Up to this time I had never witnessed a regu- 
lar bombardment, but on the sixth day of my 
spell in the trenches word came from H. Q. that 
at a certain hour the village of Fricourt was 
to be well strafed, I selected a good position 
from which to view the show and at the appointed 
moment it seemed as if hell were suddenly let 
loose. Countless numbers of projectiles, large 
and small, came screaming through the still air 
and in a second Fricourt was lighted by the red 
glow of the shells as they burst on every part 
of the wretched village (it was only occupied 
by the military, all civilians having been sent 
away many months before). The earth shook 
violently with the terrific explosions and the din 
was appalling. Never before have I seen a more 
wonderful sight, a more marvellous pyrotechnic 
display, and it gave our men immense satisfac- 
tion, for it showed that we at last had some 
shells to spare, so that the Huns were learning 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 133 

the delights of being thoroughly shelled. From 
the numerous signals they sent up, and the veri- 
table rain of their machine-gun bullets that tore 
across No Man's Land, it was evident they ex- 
pected we were going to make an immediate at- 
tack. However nothing was further from our 
minds. We were simply indulging in a little 
"Hate," and from the dilapidated appearance of 
Fricourt the following morning we could see that 
our gunners had done some very excellent shoot- 
ing. 

On the seventh day of our spell in the trenches 
I had a very fortunate escape while walking along 
on a tour of inspection. The enemy had been 
unusually active, plastering the line with all 
sorts of disagreeable things, but by dodging be- 
tween the outbursts of fire I had gone most of 
the round untouched, though one of the men 
had been killed close by me. He was one of the 
best fellows in the company, always cheerful and 
the fun-maker of the lot; his death was a great 
blow to us all. I had just passed a long rather 
wide bay and was in the act of stooping to get 
under an artillery bridge which crossed the 
trench, when a grenade struck the edge of the 
parapet not three feet away from my head; the 
sound of the explosion at such close quarters was 



134. WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

deafening and at first I felt sure I was killed, but 
fortunately for me the force of the burst passed 
immediately over my head. Had I been walking 
erect it would have finished my army career with 
extreme suddenness, but as it happened, thanks 
to the protection afforded by the ''tin hat," the 
only result was that one side of my face was 
paralysed for a few days, and of course the shock 
made me feel pretty uncomfortable. 

One of my duties was to observe whatever was 
possible of the enemy's activities and report the 
same. For several nights I had heard a consid- 
erable amount of horse and wagon trafiic and 
a lot of talking; this always occurred in the same 
place and at about the same hour. I reported 
the facts and it was decided that a little strafing 
would be useful, so on a certain evening I was 
told to observe carefully the results of a "shoot" 
which would begin when I sent word of the 
sounds of wagons. At a few minutes to nine the 
clatter of vehicles sounded clearly in the still- 
ness of the night, word to this effect was promptly 
telephoned, and almost immediately a regular 
tornado of shells flew overhead and burst along 
the road at the edge of Fricourt. For two or 
three minutes this continued then, as suddenly 
as it had begun, it stopped and the shrieks of men 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 135 

giving hurried orders and the bumping of hastily 
moving wagons sounded in place of the bursting 
shells. The wretched Germans evidently imag- 
ined that the bombardment had ceased, but after 
a wait of about a minute it was renewed with in- 
creased vigour, and continued for five or six min- 
utes, after which it stopped, and not a sound 
could I hear, apparently the whole ration party 
had been wiped out which, from our point of 
view, was quite satisfactory. 

The ten days in the trenches seemed never 
ending. The strain was monotonous and the im- 
possibility of having a wash or changing clothes 
made life anything but a joy. The lack of sleep 
was trying, especially to one who could not 
snatch short naps when occasion offered. Al- 
most the only pleasure was the daily or rather 
nightly arrival of mail. This was a Godsend. 
Among my letters I remember receiving one 
from a great friend in New York. It contained 
a detailed account of a fishing trip in a part of 
Newfoundland where I had enjoyed some glori- 
ous sport in the days before the war. It told of 
fine salmon being caught, of delightful camps 
on ground I knew so well, and I felt sick of war, 
more sick than ever before ; what a contrast there 
was in the events spoken of in the letter to the 



136 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

terrible conditions in which we were taking part. 
The fishing seemed hke a story of fairyland. I 
wondered what the future held in store for me, 
and I longed for the feel of rushing water, and 
the joy of fishing in the wonderful wild lands of 
the North. 

Not only were there letters and daily papers 
from home but occasional packages, containing 
cake or "smokes." I had asked my various friends 
and relations to send cigarettes for my company, 
and when these arrived in the trenches they were 
more than welcome and it was a real pleasure to 
distribute them among the men. Each day we 
had the task of censoring the men's letters. I 
think there is no more hated duty than that. Still 
it is very necessary The letters are brought in 
to the company commander's dugout at a cer- 
tain hour, and every one must be read, initialed, 
and then sealed. A few green envelopes are given 
to the men who want to write of private affairs, 
these are sealed and the man signs his name and 
number; affirming that the enclosed letter con- 
tains nothing liable to censorship. A small per- 
centage of these are opened by the censor at the 
base, and if any one is found to contain military 
or other information of a forbidden nature the 
writer is heavily punished and is not again al- 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 1S7 

lowed to have green envelopes. The officers are 
trusted more or less to keep their own letters 
within bounds, and they only have to put their 
name on the envelope, as with the men's green 
envelopes, a few are opened by the censor at the 
base. 

On the evening of our ninth day we were 
warned to look out for a mine explosion at mid- 
night. I had never seen one and was naturally 
very anxious to know what it was like; from 
stories I had read I imagined it would be a very 
spectacular show, so I waited patiently in a good 
position about six hundred yards from the Tam- 
bour which was the centre of the mining activity. 
The night was clear starlight without the slight- 
est breeze, nothing disturbed the quiet except the 
inevitable pinging of bullets from machine guns. 
Suddenly just at the moment of midnight there 
w^as a strange rumbling of the ground, it seemed 
to rock and shiver; at the same time a curious 
light in the direction of the Tambour showed the 
ground to be heaving almost as though it were 
boiling and rising slowly to the accompaniment 
of a terrific booming sound. Then quietly the 
boiling ceased, and the ground settled in the cen- 
tre of the area and left a huge crater. Scarcely 
had this happened when another mine was fired 



188 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

and it acted in the same strange way and in the 
cold glow of the Verey lights men could be seen 
hastily taking possession of one edge of the cra- 
ters, and that was all, yet it represented perhaps 
months of work and many lives, besides tons of 
explosives. The show was over, and I returned 
to my dugout to find that the results of the ex- 
plosions were only too evident — for everything 
that could be knocked down was distributed over 
the ground; a mixture of chalk, food, boards, 
books and other odds and ends ; and among it all 
were several unexploded grenades which an en- 
thusiastic subaltern had collected at various times 
and placed in a niche in the wall, fortunately in- 
stead of falling on hard ground they had landed 
on some rubber boots, otherwise they might have 
exploded with results exceedingly unsatisfactory 
to our dugout. These grenades had been a source 
of considerable anxiety to me as the subaltern 
had a most enquiring turn of mind and would 
bring all sorts of strange grenades and other im- 
plements of destruction into the dugout and 
amuse himself taking them to pieces. For my 
part I never could see anything even remotely 
amusing in the game and I finally had to sug- 
gest that grenade investigations would be much 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 139 

more popular if carried out in a more secluded 
place. 

On May 11th the officers of the relieving bat- 
talion came to pay us a visit and look over the 
trenches, and I was glad to be able to show the 
amount of work that had been accomplished. We 
had used nearly two thousand new sand-bags in 
the work, as well as nearly a thousand filled ones 
taken from the mine saps, and with the excep- 
tion of two short stretches toward the Tambour 
end the line was in very fair condition. The 
trenches had been made narrower and were there- 
fore very much safer, names had been put on 
each corner, in fact everything showed how much 
good work the men had done. In spite of the 
very considerable amount of shelling to which 
we were subjected every day our casualties were 
only about fifteen. 

The following day we all got ready to leave, 
hours before it was necessary. We had had quite 
enough of the trenches for the present and were 
all anxious to enjoy a wash, and change our 
clothes. Some of the days had been very hot so 
we all suffered from swollen feet. In their de- 
light at the prospect of getting back to billets 
some of the fellows began to whistle cheerful 
tunes and though this was quickly stopped, the 



140 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

Germans evidently heard it and concluded that 
nothing but the immediate prospect of relief 
could make the men so light-hearted. The result 
was that they started a vigorous strafe. All sorts 
of stuff was sent over, shells, "minnies" and 
grenades, and one could scarcely go ten yards 
along any trench without finding pieces of newly 
fallen metal. Things looked very bad, and I 
was only too glad when at three-thirty the last of 
the relief arrived and I was able to hand over 
the responsibilities of holding this piece of the 
line and say good-bye to the extremely unhealthy 
neighbourhood and wish the new company com- 
mander the best of luck. 

On reaching the outskirts of Becordel I se- 
lected a quiet place which seemed well sheltered, 
in order to call the roll, as I feared the company 
had suffered heavily during the last two hours. 
No sooner were the men lined up than a fairly 
big shell came singing toward us. It looked bad 
for us all and I shouted to the men to lie down ; 
before the words were out of my mouth the shell 
landed not thirty yards away in a small new 
cemetery, and it was followed by four others, 
all falling within an area of a few yards, but not 
one exploded. Such luck was really remarkable, 
but scarcely more so than the fact revealed by 




A TYPICAL SCENF. OX THE ROADS IMMEDIATELY BACK OF 
THE FRONT LINE DURINO A SUCCESSFUL ADVANCE 
The woe-l)egone men are German prisoners who probably imagine 
they are going to be shot, according to the stories tiiey have 
been told by their officers. 



IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES 141 

the roll call that not a man had been killed dur- 
ing the bombardment which had lasted about two 
hours while the relief was being carried out. 
Luck is a queer thing and our men began to 
think that Providence was especially kind to 

them, and they made the march to B e in the 

best of spirits. We stayed there only for the 
night, and the next morning proceeded to La 
N e, our favourite billets. 



CHAPTER VIII 

Preparing for the Great Offensive 

On arriving at La N e I was asked whether 

I would care to take charge of the Battahon 
scouts and undertake their training, as the Gen- 
eral wished each battalion to have an officer and 
sixteen reliable men trained for this work. I was 
delighted to take over the task, and a few days 
later was appointed Brigade Scout & Intelli- 
gence Officer, an appointment which I most thor- 
oughly appreciated, as it gave me opportunity 
to work out some novel schemes for training the 
sixty-four men and four officers in all the 
branches of scouting. As most of my life had 
been devoted to stalking wild animals the lessons 
I had learned proved of the greatest value. The 
men were wonderfully keen, they took to the 
work very readily and were as good a lot of men 
as I have ever known. I look back with utmost 
pleasure to the days spent with them. We worked 
very hard both by day and night and the men 
became so enthusiastic that they continued mak- 

142 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 143 

ing and developing schemes even during their 
leisure hours. 

Among the things I had to teach the scouts 
was how to take cover under all conditions and 
make the best of any situation. The men had 
no knowledge of the value of protective colour- 
ing, nor even knew there was such a thing, ex- 
cept two, one of whom had been a gamekeeper 
and the other a poacher ; of these two the poacher 
was the better, he took to the work as naturally 
as a duck takes to water. 

At first when the men were told to conceal 
themselves in woods or hedgerows, in a position 
which would enable them to see without being 
seen, they would invariably hide behind the thick- 
est bush they could find and then break off any 
branches that happened to be in the way, with 
the result that gleaming white scars stood out 
with conspicuous clearness, advertising the man's 
position as surely as if he had hung out a white 
handkerchief. 

In teaching, the best way is to let people make 
the mistake, point out how or why it is a mistake, 
then let them discover the remedy. This makes 
them understand what they are doing, and gives 
them a chance to think. When the men saw 
why they had been found, I let them have an- 



144 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

other try, this time instead of completely break- 
ing the branches they did exactly as I expected, 
they bent down, or partly broke the branches, so 
that the under side of the leaves showed. Now 
every one who has taken the trouble to observe 
things outdoors will have seen that the under- 
side of a leaf is very much lighter than the upper 
side; it shows almost white if placed against fol- 
iage in its ordinary position. The men were very 
much surprised to find themselves immediately 
discovered, and could scarcely believe that the 
upturned leaves had exposed their carefully se- 
lected hiding places. I then showed them how 
to turn this peculiarity of the leaves to advantage. 
In going through woods there is always the dan- 
ger of losing one's way ; under the ordinary con- 
ditions of life this may not be a very serious mat- 
ter, but in the war game it may easily be a ques- 
tion of life or death, not alone for the one who 
makes the mistake but for many others as well. 
So I explained to the men how easy it was to 
mark one's trail by simply bending twigs so that 
the leaves will show their under-sides. 

The objection to selecting a particularly dense 
bush was explained on the ground that the eye 
was naturally attracted to any object that stands 
out from its surroundings, as it increases the pos- 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 146 

sibility of discovery however carefully one may 
be hidden. Even though one might not actually 
be seen, a chance shot might easily be fired just 
to make sure. 

The great importance of keeping absolutely 
still, especially on days when there is no wind, 
was demonstrated by placing some men among 
the bushes, and telling them to move very slightly, 
while the other men looked on. The least move- 
ment of the leaves immediately caught the eye. I 
explained the disadvantage of keeping the head 
too close to the ground as in most instances it 
reduced the field of vision to such a degree that 
nothing could be seen more than a few feet away. 
The use of tufts of grass or leaves stuck into the 
clothes, m order to break the lines, was also ex- 
plained with care, and the men soon realised how 
important it was to select the vegetation best suit- 
ed to the surroundings, also the importance of not 
making the effect too solid. 

In carrying out the work by practising under 
various conditions we had some amusing experi- 
ences, and in one instance narrowly escaped get- 
ting into trouble. I had divided the men into 
two groups, one lot were to conceal themselves 
so as to hold a certain line. The others had to 
advance without exposing themselves, and if 



146 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

possible creep through the line. If either side 
caught sight of a man, instead of firing a round 
of blank ammunition, he was to call out "dead," 
which meant the man was out of action. Of 
course the side that did not have to move had 
every advantage, yet it happened that they had 
the greater number of "casualties." The sides 
were then reversed with the same results. This 
was not very encouraging, as it showed that the 
men either did not keep sufficiently still or that 
they had not selected their places of concealment 
with care. In order to make them realise the 
great importance of carefully selected cover, and 
how greatly the advantage was with those who 
were holding the position, I picked out my best 
man, the poacher, and he and I arranged to take 
the same line which the others had failed to hold. 

We were working in a valley which was more 
or less wooded and covered with patches of shrub- 
bery. Immediately back of the line that we were 
to hold was a cottage, with the usual group of 
out-houses surrounding an ill-kept yard. Not 
having heard any sign of human beings in the 
neighbourhood I imagined the place to be unin- 
habited, otherwise I should not have chosen it. 

After explaining to the men that we would 
stay within a certain limited area, less than a hun- 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 147 

dred yards in width and depth, I sent them off 
with instructions to advance at a given time. JMy 
poacher friend and I then proceeded to conceal 
ourselves with as much care as possible. The 
position we selected afforded an extensive field 
of view so that it would have been difficult for 
any one to have approached us unobserved. 

In due course we saw evidence of the "enemy," 
here and there a bush would shake, very shghtly 
it is true, but quite enough to indicate the pres- 
ence of a moving body. Before long we suc- 
ceeded in catching several of the advancing men, 
when a serious complication arose in the form 
of an old woman, the occupier of the adjacent 
cottage. It was most amusing to watch her as 
she moved about very cautiously and with every 
indication of suspicion in her manner, several 
times she passed within five or six feet of me, 
and of course I scarcely dared to breathe, the 
poacher who was about twenty yards away from 
me was so convulsed with merriment over the 
situation, especially when the old girl planted 
herself so close that I could have reached out 
my hand and touched her, that he nearly ex- 
ploded. 

Suddenly the storm burst as the woman caught 
sight of a khaki figure crawling stealthily among 



148 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

some underbrush; the stilhiess of the day was 
badly broken by a most wonderful flow of abu- 
sive language. Translated it meant, "Here, you 
dirty, crawling thief, you low-down pig, I see 
you; do you think you can come to a poor old 
woman's place and steal her chickens ; come along 
out, oh! yes, I see you right enough (as the 
wretched fellow tried to make his escape unob- 
served) ; aye, and there's another one of you; 
come, I say, or I'll call my husband and he'll 
shoot the two of you, you miserable thieves," all 
this time she was getting more and more angry, 
while the poor men who could not understand 
a single word that was being hurled at them, did 
not know of what they were accused. For fear 
that the affair might end in trouble I finally 
stepped out from my place of concealment, to the 
very great surprise of the highly indignant 
woman and of the men, who had begun to think 
that I was lost. 

I managed, after considerable difficulty, to ex- 
plain that the men were entirely innocent of any 
thought of chicken stealing, and that I was sim- 
ply teaching them to stalk the Boche. At first 
she looked somewhat incredulous, but when in 
reply to my blowing the whistle, men appeared 
as though by magic, from all sorts of places, 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 149 

the woman realised that it did not look so much 
like a chicken raid after all. She was most 
amused when I showed her where I had been 
hiding and explained how easily she could have 
been taken a prisoner. 

Nothing would satisfy her but that we should 
come into her house and meet her husband. Un- 
der the circumstances we could not refuse, so we 
all trooped in, and were duly presented to the 
husband and his brother. I noticed that both 
bore the marks of war, one lacked an arm and the 
other a leg, which with considerable pride they 
hastened to explain was the result of the Battle 
of the Marne. They were both men well past 
middle age and were among that lot of marvel- 
lous men who had stemmed the impetuous on- 
slaught of the army which the Kaiser believed 
would conquer not only France, but the whole 
world. 

While our hostess told how she had caught us 
red-handed trying to steal her chickens and how 
we had sprung out of the ground and captured 
her instead of the chickens, all of which greatly 
amused the men, she was busy pouring out glasses 
of black coffee for all of us who cared to in- 
dulge; while we drank it she disa2:)peared, but 
returned very shortly with a red plush album 



150 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

which contained photographs of her five sons, all 
in the army. With glistening eyes and a proud 
heart she told how three of them had died fight- 
ing for their country, while a fourth was in a hos- 
pital seriously wounded. Only one sound one 
left! What would she and her crippled husband 
do in their old age? The peasants depend so 
much on their children for support when they 
are too old to work that the loss of sons is a very 
serious misfortune; and yet when I suggested 
that we would all be glad to have the war end, 
she replied with extraordinary energy, 

"We don't want even to talk about the war end- 
ing tmtil those German devils are beaten, beaten, 
beaten!" 

How I wish that some of those spineless crea- 
tures, called "Pacifists" could have heard that 
splendid French mother speak, she who had given 
so freely of her own flesh and blood, who had 
paid such a terrible price, who would lose, per- 
haps, her last son if the war continued and yet 
she wished, I should say, demanded, that there 
should be no question of peace without complete 
victory. Victory so complete that there shall be 
no possibility of the treacherous HUNS being 
in a position again to turn the world into a gi- 
gantic slaughter-house. When I told the men 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 151 

what the French woman had said they gave her 
three rousing cheers. Then all shook her toil- 
scarred hand; this was too much for her and she 
burst into a flood of tears, she wanted to embrace 
them all — her "brave children" she called them. 
After promising to return again soon and steal 
some more of her chickens we bid the kind people 
good-bye and left, all feeling the better for the 
encounter. It had done a great deal to make the 
men understand the spirit that was driving the 
French nation to such wonderful deeds of hero- 
ism. 

As we moved off I drew the men's attention to 
the fact that they had been discovered by a 
woman while they were supposed to have been 
very carefully concealed. Also that I had caught 
sight of many of them, and that none of them 
had seen either the poacher or me. This was 
during the early stages of the training. They 
profited by each mistake, and soon developed 
extraordinary proficiency in their work. Some- 
times I would send half of the party ahead, giv- 
ing them perhaps twenty or thirty minutes start, 
they would then take up concealed positions with- 
in less than a hundred yards of the road. This 
was done with the idea of stimulating the powers 
of observation while on the move. I would then 



152 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

march the remainder along at the ordinary pace ; 
the odds were with the hidden men, so the scores 
were made on the basis that a marching man got 
two points to his credit for each hidden man he 
discovered, while the hidden man was given 
one point if he was not found. 

For men who were to be scouts this sort of 
training was of great value, as the power of see- 
ing is of course of the utmost importance, and 
strange to say it is by no means an easy thing to 
teach, or perhaps I should say, develop. In order 
to accomplish the desired results it was neces- 
sary to make the work as interesting as possible. 
The competitive scoring was a great success and 
the men became extremely keen in trying to win 
the highest number of points. In doing so they 
developed really remarkable cleverness in con- 
cealing themselves at the same time being able 
to get a clear view of the road, without which 
the whole point would have been lost. At the 
same time the men learned how to use their eyes, 
so they saw many things that ordinarily would 
have been passed by unobserved. 

To stimulate still further this power of ob- 
servation I sometimes sent the men off in pairs 
with instructions to note anything they saw while 
on their way to a certain place, then accompany- 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 153 

ing the men over the same ground I would check 
carefully their notes and observations. This 
taught them not only to see but to understand 
the value of the information obtained. 

Another phase of the instructional work was 
teaching the practical use of the prismatic com- 
pass, not alone as an aid to marching in a straight 
line either by day or night, but as a means, in 
conjunction with a map, of finding one's where- 
abouts, or the placing definitely of some object of 
special interest or importance. At first the men 
were frightened at the idea of doing anything so 
complicated, but in a very short time they became 
quite proficient, and were able to work out their 
position on the map to within a few yards, simply 
by means of observed angles. 

It may be of interest to note in passing that 
when it came to the time when the knowledge 
which these men acquired was put to actual use 
they acquitted themselves splendidly. They acted 
as guides when our Battalion went over the top 
in the "Somme show." It is no easy task to keep 
men headed absolutely straight by compass bear- 
ings when there is no tangible object in sight, 
especially under terrific fire such as our poor fel- 
lows were compelled to face when they headed 
for the German line. I regret to say that of the 



154 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

forty-four Brigade scouts scarcely more than a 
dozen escaped either wounds or death on that 
fateful first of July. 

On the 23rd we moved back to B e. Dur- 
ing this period much of my time was devoted to 
making sketches of the German positions, as the 
General was anxious to have drawings made 
which would enable the officers and men to iden- 
tify the various landmarks at a glance. At times 
the sketching proved somewhat exciting, as it 
meant having to crawl out in the open in very 
exposed positions in order to obtain comprehen- 
sive views of the country. 

On one particular day I rode with my orderly 
to within a mile or so of the front line and hav- 
ing left the horses in the shelter of a wood, pro- 
ceeded on foot across a part of the country which 
was being shelled intermittently. To obtain the 
required view I was obliged to crawl to the crest 
of a bare hill some distance away from the pro- 
tection of any trenches, and eventually I reached 
the desired position. In order to make the re- 
quired compass observations, I found it neces- 
sary to sit up and so render myself unpleasantly 
conspicuous in the landscape ; whether or not the 
Germans detected me I cannot say for certain 
but I do know that within a few minutes whiz- 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 155 

bangs began to arrive with alarming regularity. 
Occasionally by way of variety a larger shell 
would come and throw a great column of earth 
in the air, or a shrapnel would send a shower of 
lead all about the neighbourhood; curiously 
enough all these shot fell in a semi-circle in front 
of me and about a hundred to a hundred and fifty 
yards away. Now making sketches with proper 
precision is a very enjoyable occupation in a 
peaceful place, but when one is drawing a minute 
piece of detail, and a noisy shell comes along 
screaming and scattering metal in a most indis- 
criminate manner, one's hand does not keep as 
steady as it should and I found my sketches were 
decorated with sundry unnecessary lines which 
meant nothing to the casual observer, but each 
scratch showed that I had been scared, so scared 
indeed that I wondered whether the years I had 
devoted to the gentle arts of drawing and paint- 
ing could not have been spent to better advan- 
tage learning how to dodge enemy shells. 

However, the work had to be done, and after 
an hour or so I became somewhat used to the 
conditions, and even found myself enjoying the 
exquisite singing of the larks. It was surpris- 
ing how little attention they paid to the souna 
of the shells. The beauty of the uninhabited land- 



156 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

scape in this No Man's Land made one of the 
many sharp contrasts of this strange scene. It 
had been abandoned by the farmers for nearly 
two years and the ground instead of bearing rich 
crops of grain was covered with a mass of scarlet 
poppies, growing in riotous profusion as far as 
the eye could see, a strange wild garden, its col- 
our red as the blood that was soon to be shed so 
lavishly along this great battlefield of the Somme. 

Cutting through the deserted fields were the 
narrow, white, chalk-edged trenches, our own and 
those of the Germans, like giant white threads, 
forming a net- work over the rolling country. In 
the middle distance red-roofed villages nestled 
snugly among the rich green woods, the very pic- 
ture of peace, broken only by the endless com- 
municating trench systems. These were the arter- 
ies of modern warfare through which flowed the 
living blood in the form of man. Still further be- 
yond in the blue mists of the summer day were 
more woods, some large, some mere dots of green, 
and more villages almost lost in the filmy atmos- 
phere. Here and there the burst of a large shell 
disturbed the beautiful scene and made one realise 
how deceptive was the air of tranquillity. 

Sometimes it is rather difficult to locate one's 
exa;ct position owing to the lack of landmarks 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 157 

which may be used for observation, and in order 
to check the panoramic drawings it is quite nec- 
essary that the point from which the observations 
are made shall be accurately given. While I was 
crouching low, at the same time trying to get my 
head high enough from the ground to enable me 
to discover well-defined landmarks, I spotted a 
wind-mill. Now all wind-mills are marked on 
our maps, so they are most useful, even when 
wrecked, as they usually are anywhere near the 
scene of activities. Having secured a careful 
compass reading on my wind-mill which pro- 
truded over the edge of a nearby hill, I searched 
vainly on my map for the said mill. True there 
was one more or less in the supposed direction, but 
taking that in connection with my other refer- 
ence points placed me between the first and sec- 
ond line of Boche trenches, a most unhealthy po- 
sition, not at all suited to my timid nature. I 
puzzled over the question and finally took a 
chance and stood upright for a minute fraction 

of a second. 

To my great surprise the "wind-mill" proved 
to be the spire of the church at Albert, the Lean- 
ing Virgin appearing as one of the arms. This 
extraordinary metal statue of the Virgin Mary 
and the Child Jesus, though weighing tons, was 



168 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

partly dislodged by a German shell, but instead 
of falling it only leaned over at right-angle to 
the tower, and in this strange attitude it has re- 
mained ever since, though the church is complete- 
ly wrecked. According to popular superstition 
the war will not end until the statue has fallen. 
According to recent reports Albert has been cap- 
tured by the Germans. If this is true the bronze 
statue will probably be taken away and melted 
down for the manufacture of shells. 

As a rule when out on sketching excursions I 
preferred to go alone, it reduced the risk of be- 
ing seen. One man being less than half as con- 
spicuous as two, and it seemed scarcely fair to 
ask a fellow to crawl about in exposed places and 
keep him there doing nothing. The inactivity 
is not good for any one's nerves, besides having 
the man with me was always an inducement to 
hurry the work, and so, as I said, I prefer going 
alone. This preference placed me in a curious 
predicament one day when I had to crawl out 
into No Man's Land in front of a piece of our 
trench which was very thinly occupied. 

None of the men holding our line had seen me 
go over, for the day was so quiet that beyond a 
very occasional rifle shot there was no sign of ac- 
tivity in the sector. It was this quietness which 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 159 

induced me to go out in front where I could se- 
cure a particularly good view. The sketch being 
finished, the last part done rather hurriedly owing 
to the unpleasant attentions of an enemy sniper, 
I returned, crawling on my tummy in as incon- 
spicuous and rapid a manner as possible to our 
trenches. Just as I reached the parapet, when I 
was by no means anxious for any delay, a broad 
Scotch voice hailed me and wanted to know who 

the I was and what the I was doing. 

(I w^on't give the exact words because when a 
Scot becomes emphatic his language does not 
look well in cold print.) I tried to explain who 
I was and what I was doing, and even showed 
my Brigade badge, all the time trying with con- 
siderable persistence to get on what should have 
been the safe side of the parapet. The shelter of 
the trench made a particularly strong appeal to 
me owing to the frequent shots which came un- 
duly adjacent to my anatomy. But I was very 
much between the devil and the sea for the Scot 
insisted on keeping me covered with his rifle 
while he wanted to know where my orderly was. 
In my enthusiasm for the work I had for the 
moment quite forgotten that an officer was not 
allowed to walk through the trenches unaccom- 
panied by his orderly. So I replied that I had 



160 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

left my orderly to wait for me in B ^e wood. 

Fortunately at this moment an ofRfcer came 
along and he kindly allowed me to get into the 
trench that I might finish the argument without 
the assistance of bullets, and it was astonishing 
how great was my affection for that particular 
trench. However, my troubles were not yet over^ 
as the officer hearing that I had been seen coming 
from the direction of the enemy's lines, — they 
were scarcely two hundred yards away, — decided 
that I must be placed under arrest, and I was 
duly taken before the commanding officer. I 
tried to explain who and what I was and why I 
had been out in front of the lines, but he did not 
seem to like my face and was very suspicious. 
In the end I induced him to telephone H. Q. and 
get a description of my facial adornments, etc. 
The result was that eventually I was released, 
much to the disappointment of the man who 
had first spotted me; poor fellow, he was sure 
that he had landed a German spy, and it was 
a great pity to have disappointed him. 

As I made my way back, the advisability of 
obeying the order regarding going unaccom- 
panied got safely into my brain, and I deter- 
mined that not again would I be caught playing 
a lone hand. On returning to billets I passed 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 161 

through the woods of B e and was interested 

to see what great changes had taken place since 
the days when we had been stationed in the neigh- 
bourhood. Wherever we looked there were guns, 
large guns, very large guns and small ones of 
every kind and description. All hidden most 
cunningly in every available position, the woods 
fairly bristled with them and the sight was good 
to behold. Our friend the enemy had something 
coming to him and the thought made me very 
happy. 

As my orderly remarked, "The Boche is cer- 
tainly going to get hell when all those guns get 
going." 

Well, it was about time, he had been giving us 
a good dose of hell for a long while, and it was 
only fair that we should return something. The 
one-sided game is good enough but it becomes 
very monotonous after a while. 

Among my various duties I had to spend some 
days in an F. O. P. (forward observation post) 
as observation officer. This meant that I must 
report both our own and the enemy's fire. The 
number and size of shells and the results of the 
work. An O. P. or "O. Pip/' as it is usually 
called (the letter P being pronounced "pip" to 
avoid being mistaken for B while speaking on the 



162 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

telephone), is constructed with the utmost care 
to render it as inconspicuous as possible, while 
it offers a comprehensive view. The opening 
through which one is supposed to see everything 
is a long, narrow, horizontal slit, commonly called 
a "squint hole," which must be invisible from the 
front view. Smoking in the place is strictly pro- 
hibited as the smoke curling through the slit 
would proclaim to the enemy the position of 
the post, and would result in a most undesirable 
and immediate shelhng. The greenhorn will oc- 
casionally thrust the end of a telescope at the 
very edge of the opening and this always results 
in an extraordinary and very prompt flow of lan- 
guage from his fellow occupants, much to the 
surprise of Lieut. Greenhorn, who comes to the 
conclusion that his fellow beings are unduly par- 
ticular and perhaps rather cowardly. But he 
soon learns his lesson, and having learned it usu- 
ally regains his popularity. Telephones are con- 
nected to the various batteries and headquarters 
so that all information is sent and received with 
promptness. 

The work of the artillery F. O. O.* is of the 
utmost importance. He reports the shots of his 
batteries and gives instruction as to any changes 

*Forward observation oflacer. 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 163 



necessary in range and direction and generally 
acts as the eye of the gunners. Accuracy is of 
course most desirable for the slightest mistake 
may cause untold trouble. There was an instance 











\ 



«9 

1i\ 



of this sort related to me that will give an idea 
of what momentary carelessness may accomplish. 
In the O. P., shown on the diagram, w^as the of- 
ficer observing for his batteries, their direction 
being designated by the arrow. Several shots 



164 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

having been fired with the desired effect at the 
point in the enemy trenches marked "A" the F. 
O. O. wished his battery to give some attention to 
the point marked "B" where there was reason to 
believe the enemy had a trench mortar battery 
concealed, so he telephoned to fire at a point so 
many degrees left, but forgot to increase the 
range. Scarcely had he sent the message than he 
remembered the omission and realising that the 
change of direction would bring the shots directly 
on to the O. P., he quickly seized the telephone 
with the intention of rectifying the mistake before 
it was too late, but the wires had been cut by a 
shell. Of course there was no time to find the 
break, to get out of the post was the only thing 
possible. As he was in the act of giving the men 
instructions to make a bolt for it, the first shell 
from his own battery landed, a direct hit on the 
O. P. The unfortunate officer was instantly killed 
as were two of the men. The others though more 
or less injured succeeded in making their escape. 
One day when I was in the O. P. a battery of 
large guns was trying to find a very troublesome 
enemy gun which was situated about a mile in 
front of us, and was believed to be in a certain 
small wood. We were told to watch the effect 
of the shooting at a given moment. In due course 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 165 

we heard the big shell humming through the air, 
it fell about seventy yards to the right of the lit- 
tle wood where it kicked up a bit of earth, but it 
proved to be a "dud" and like all good and well- 
behaved duds it failed to explode. A moment 
later with the aid of my glasses I saw a German 
leave the shelter of the trees and go to where the 
"dud" lay partly buried. He bent down and 
examined it with the evident intention of reading 
the markings on the nosecap in order that he 
might know how far it had come, and so get the 
range of our battery. Having found what he 
wanted he returned to the place where his gun 
was so cleverly concealed, resolving no doubt to 
"find" our gun later on. But he had given us 
the exact position of his own battery, and natur- 
ally no time was lost in communicating this in- 
teresting fact to our gunners, who sent three 
shells in quick succession, and it was with the 
greatest satisfaction that we saw a terrific ex- 
plosion occur in the place where our foolish Hun 
had disappeared into the woods. Result: exit 
German battery including the foolish Hun. 

On June 1st we moved to M e. The billet 

assigned to me was in a small partly ruined cot- 
tage, partly ruined inasmuch as it lacked a fair 
share of its original roof, one wall was half gone, 



166 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

and another had a decent-sized hole in it, and of 
course there was no glass in the windows. Still 
it was not a bad billet considering that it was en- 
tirely exposed to the fire of the enemy whose 
trenches could be seen from the roof. How it 
happened that any of the building remained was 
a mystery. 

My admirable servant promptly proceeded to 
make me comfortable, from some unknown source 
(I never asked awkward questions) he procured 
some straw for my bed, and when one sleeps on 
cold and highly irregular tiling whose symmetry 
has been disturbed by sundry chunks of iron 
from bursting shells, the straw is a most com- 
forting sub-stratum to the "flea-bag." A partly 
broken packing-case came (probably) from the 
quartermaster or the A. S. C.,* that was my 
washstand, another box served as a chair, after 
various protruding nails had been removed, and 
the inevitable bottle devoted itself to holding a 
precious candle. My room was complete with all 
the luxury that any one could wish, and I only 
hoped the Hun would abstain from his customary 
careless habit of dropping shells on unoffending 
officers and damaging their " 'appy 'omes." 

It was arranged that I should mess with my 

* Army Service Corps. 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 167 

old friends, the officers of company— the 

joUiest lot of fellows that ever lived. Our mess 
billet was a large house in unusually good condi- 
tion on the side of the village nearest the Ger- 
mans. In front of us on one side was a large 
open field which was unused because of its ex- 
posed position. The village itself though fre- 
quently shelled still contained a fair number of 
its original civilian population, and they in most 
cases kept shops from which we procured various 
luxuries — at war-zone prices, of course. 

It w^as early in the afternoon when we arrived, 
very hot and very dusty. Oranges were suggested 
as food befitting the occasion. So one of the serv- 
ants was sent out for some. He returned in a 
short time with a large bag of very inferior fruit 
purchased at a very superior price. The first 
orange taken from the bag was partly bad. Now 
a bad orange is a tempting missile and this fact 
was discovered by the fellow who examined it — 
Biif, and it went across the room narrowly miss- 
ing a fellow's head and smashing itself in a 
nasty juicy mess on the wall. Needless to say 
within a few seconds an orange fight was in full 
swing, seven full-grown, able-bodied men all go- 
ing it as hard as they could. 

Suddenly above the sounds of laughter came 



168 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the screeching of a shell, followed almost imme- 
diately by a loud explosion. But this did not in 
any way interfere with the orange fight. One 
fellow indeed stopped for a second to see where 
the shell had landed — it was about one hundred 
and fifty yards from the house — and as he looked 
through the broken window several oranges 
caught him, direct hits they were, as he had 
not had time to dodge. For nearly an hour the 
orange fight and the strafing continued and only 
for brief moments when a shell would come ex- 
tremely near did any one stop to look at them. 
I relate this incident because it shows two things ; 
first, the delightful boyish good spirits of our fel- 
lows, who can of course be quite serious enough 
when it is necessary; and second, how little at- 
tention is paid to ordinary shell fire as men be- 
come so thoroughly accustomed to it. 

The day after our arrival at M e, I received! 

news from home which made my immediate re- 
turn for a few days most urgent. Unfortunately 
my regular leave was not due for nearly two 
weeks, but as I was on the Brigade staiF my going 
would not interfere with the leave of any one else, 
so I applied to the General, stating that I would 
gladly give up my full ten days, due later, if only 
I could have three clear days at once. To my 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 169 

surprise and delight my full ten days' leave was 
granted and needless to say after I had handed 
over my work, and made out the necessary re- 
ports, I lost not a second in packing and getting 
off. 

Bairnsfather — bless him for the good laughs 
that he has given us — has depicted in his delight- 
ful drawings some of the incidents connected with 
the "leave train." I feel that it is scarcely neces- 
sary for me to do more than suggest that the 
reader glance at those drawings and he will un- 
derstand the situation of the man who goes on 
leave. Trains may go slower, and stop more 
frequently, and be more crowded, but I doubt it. 
Of course every one is impatient to get home once 
he starts, even though the actual time of leave 
does not begin till you are on the boat. 

To make matters worse when we got to Amiens 
we had the mortification of reading the first re- 
port of the naval battle of Jutland and nothing 
more depressing was ever offered for the con- 
sumption of a Britisher. It is difficult to de- 
press men going on leave from the front, but 
seldom have I seen a more sober lot than we 
were. 

To be beaten on land was one thing; of course 
we quite expected to get an occasional smash, 



170 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

but on the sea, it was unthinkable. Yet there 
it was in cold black and white. We read it and 
re-read it and some fellow finally remarked, "Oh, 
I bet there's something wrong," and thank 
Heaven he was right. 

Eventually, notwithstanding the sundry and 
various delays, we reached England. How de- 
lightfully peaceful it seemed! No appearance 
of war, every one cheerful, yes, it certainly was 
nice to be home, even if the object of my coming 
was a dreary one, for the war had hit me hard, so 
hard indeed that I had been forced to sell my 
house ; it was a wrench, but after all there was no 
use in worrying, the thing had to be done. 

Every one in England was talking about the 
impending offensive, the air was full of expec- 
tancy and hope. The coming show was to finish 
the war according to the general idea and we were 
all to be home for Christmas. The munition 
workers had given up their holidays that they 
might be able to furnish shells to the very limit 
of their power, and the Hun was to discover 
England's might. This was all very fine and I 
hoped the popular predictions would be correct. 
Of course I was not allowed to tell anything 
about what was going on at the front, nor when 
the offensive was to start. 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 171 

By way of information I may tell the reader 
in strict confidence that of course I did not know, 
though when I said so in reply to the oft-repeated 
question, it would be received with a knowing 
wink. People do not realise how very little infor- 
mation is given to us at the front. Most of our 
news comes from the English papers which fre- 
quently we receive on the day of publication. 
Then we have "Comic Cuts" as the official ac- 
count of the daily happenings connected with the 
world's war is disrespectfully called; beyond 
these sources of information we know very little. 

My short leave ended only too soon, and once 
more I found myself on the platform with hun- 
dreds of others headed for the ''trenches," and 
the platform was as usual crowded with those 
heroic women who tried to look cheerful in spite 
of the fact that in their hearts they knew what 
was to come within a few weeks, and no matter 
whether the big offensive was a success or not, 
the toll would be enormous. Yet tears were 
withheld and smiles prevailed. What those smiles 
cost, God alone knows. 

The return to France was made with the rapid- 
ity which characterises all journeys which lead 
away from home. Delays would have been al- 
most welcome, but they did not happen. Con- 



172 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

nections were made with aggravating punctual- 
ity, in marked contrast to the apparent slowness 
and delays of the homeward-bound trains. 

At Amiens the train was supposed to wait 
about half an hour, so I took the opportunity to 
see the R. T. O. (the Railroad Transport Of- 
ficer; he is the general information bureau who is 
supposed to know where every unit is, or should 
be, and how you are to find your way to it). 
There were many ahead of me and when I finally 
reached the good chap and asked him where our 
Brigade might be found, he told me with quiet 
unconcern that my train, the one on which I had 
come, was due to have started five minutes ago. 
I rushed out and along the platform just in time 
to see it disappearing in the smoky distance, on 
it was all my kit. Had I been homeward bound 
this would have been a calamity, but under the 
conditions I took it most philosophically and 
simply contented myself with wiring ahead to 
my station requesting the M. P. (Military Po- 
lice — ^very useful people!) to take the kit out of 
the train. A good meal being quite in order, the 
time between then and the departure of the next 
train, and fortunately there was a next one, was 
spent to the best advantage. 

In due course I reached my destination which 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 173 

by good fortune was La N e and reported to 

the Brigade Major. Then I was told that our 
Brigadier had left us. This was a great blow 
for we were all very fond of him. He was badly 
broken up at the sudden change as he had looked 
forward with the keenest interest to the coming 
offensive in the preparation for which he had 
worked so hard. The following day his succes- 
sor arrived. He was a much younger man and he 
immediately won our hearts by his kindness and 
good humour and very business-like ways. This 
was his first Brigade and naturally he was much 
pleased with life. It has never been my good 
fortune to be among a finer lot than those on the 
staff. The Brigade Major in particular was, I 
think, the most delightful man I have ever known 
and as my work was almost entirely with him, I 
felt more than content. 

We spent much of our time making notes and 
sketches of positions, and in visiting the trenches 
that the Brigade was to occupy in the "Push," 
and I had to take the scouts to a point overlook- 
ing the front and explain the various landmarks 
and what would be the scouts' part in the coming 
attack. For it was now no longer a secret that 
the big offensive was to begin within a couple of 
weeks, and of course every one was keyed up with 



174 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

excitement. The men did not mind how hard the 
work was, they never do when the object is clear. 
The scouts were intensely interested in studying 
the ground over which the attack was to be made, 
and with the aid of the panoramic sketches, in 
conjunction with the excellent maps with which 
we were furnished, they easily identified the most 
important features of the land. Hitherto they 
had only seen the country in front of our line 
from the trenches which are seldom constructed 
with the idea of affording extended views, but 
the point I had selected for instructional pur- 
poses was a new communication trench on a 
fairly high hill about four thousand feet from 
where we were to start in the attack. This com- 
manded a splendid view of the enemy country 
and showed nearly all the trenches that were of 
direct interest to us. 

In speaking of the maps we use it might be 
of interest to the reader to know with what ex- 
treme care they are made. The reproduction 
opposite will give a slight idea of these maps, 
though owing to the reduction in its size it does 
not do justice to the original. All the trenches, 
railways, and other works carried on by the en- 
emy are put in from aeroplane photographs. It 
was part of my duty each day to go over great 



PREPARING FOR GREAT OFFENSIVE 175 

numbers of these prints and check up the various 
lines. By this method every piece of new work 
accomplished anywhere in the enemy lines was 
added to the map with full detail; and as new 
maps could not be printed for distribution every 
day, I made small sketches, showing all changes 
and additions, and these were immediately mime- 
ographed and sent out to all who had maps (a 
record is kept of the distribution of all maps). 
By this means they could record the alterations 
and keep the maps corrected to date. Occasion- 
ally, when the additions had been of sufficient 
importance, the maps were reprinted and given 
to all who were interested in the particular part 
of the line. 



CHAPTER IX 

Hell Let Loose 

On June the 20th we left La N e and the 

kind people turned out to wish us ''Bon chance/' 
They knew we were to be in the fight very soon, 
and that in all probability the Battalion would 
not again return to the village that had been its 

favourite billet. Our next stop was at V e, 

which we found crowded to its extreme limit with 
men, and consequently very uncomfortable. The 
poor Town Major was at his wits' end to find 
accommodation for us. Every village in the area 
was in the same condition owing to the necessity 
of concentrating the vast number of troops need- 
ed for the "Show." 

On the morning of the 24th the great prelimin- 
ary bombardment commenced. The greatest 
concentration of gun fire ever indulged in by the 
British up to that time. At last the Boche was 
to learn our strength and the learning must have 
been a decidedly painful experience. Every- 
where, for miles back of our front line, guns of 

176 




SKETCH OF TRENCHES OCCUPIED BY THE AUTHOR 
The printed map on other side of this sheet issued to the officers 
by headquarters staff must not be carried into the trenches, so 
sketches are made as above. When an officer is wounded or m 
danger of capture, his first thought is of the map — he chews 
it tip and swallows it. 




62BN.1. 



X A 







62t> N.E.I 62CNW. 



X B 



PART OF ACTUAL MAP USED DURING THE BATTLE OF THE 

SOMME 

The light pencil mark from A indicates the line of attack made 

by the Brigade to which the author belonged. B, point from 

which panoramic sketch was made. The finished panoramic 

drawing was made as if drawn from A. 



HELL LET LOOSE 177 

all sizes were belching death- dealing missiles with 
tireless energy. Ammunition was practically 
unlimited, and it was our intention to destroy 
completely every part of the German trenches, 
cut all their masses of barbed wire, and level every 
building in the village strongholds. Nothing was 
to be left standing or intact. Complete annihi- 
lation and only that would satisfy us. 

But we did not know how deep were the Ger- 
man dugouts, nor did we fully understand their 
plan of defence, which included the safeguarding 
in these dugouts of innumerable machine guns, 
the instrimient most dreaded by the infantry. 
From these by many ingenious devices the guns 
would be quickly brought up to the surface of 
the ground as soon as our guns raised their fire, 
in order that the infantry might go forward. 
We were soon to learn a great and important 
lesson, but at the cost of much good blood. 

In the meantime our guns continued the good 
work to the intense satisfaction of Thomas Atkins 
& Co. Whenever the men had an hour to spare 
they would make for the nearest vantage point 
and watch the endless explosions as our shells 
landed along the enemy lines and threw up col- 
umns of smoke and earth to unbelievable heights. 

Overhead our aeroplanes darted about like 



178 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

huge dragon-flies, patrolling the sky and keeping 
the enemy planes so far back of their own lines 
that for them no observing of our guns was pos- 
sible. In this particular region we had abso- 
lute supremacy in the air. 

Toward evening of this first day every officer 
and man not actually on duty was watching the 
"Show." By daylight it was wonderful, the 
bursting shells causing many shaped and many 
coloured columns to cut into the sky-line, but at 
night it was a far more impressive sight. The 
whole country before us as far as the eye could 
see was apparently on fire, dark clouds hanging 
low in the sky reflected the deep red and orange 
of the endless shells, while the cold blue-white 
Verey lights trailed in graceful curves through 
the violated sky. Here and there signals of green 
and red rockets gave variety to the scene and 
caused satisfaction to our fellows, for it showed 
that Mr. Hun was in trouble. 

Once in a while there would be a terrific explo- 
sion which dwarfed the noise and glare of all the 
bursting shells and we knew that an ammunition 
dump had been hit and again there would be sat- 
isfaction among our men for it meant there would 
be that much less ammunition for the Hun to 
give us. 



HELL LET LOOSE 179 

Occasionally the firing would partly, or en- 
tirely subside, and perhaps for half an hour or 
so scarcely a shot would be fired. Then suddenly 
hell would be let loose, for every gun as though 
actuated by one invisible hand, would spit forth 
its deadly shot, and the air would vibrate with the 
roar as of ten thousand peals of thunder, again 
would the enemy lines be lighted up with the 
golden glow of battle, and again would Thomas 
Atkins smile and make jests, which, though not 
always conspicuous for their refinement, were 
invariably funny. 

This ubiquitous humour is wonderful. No 
matter what happens, especially if it is something 
which causes him or his comrades great personal 
discomfort, he always manages to find an amus- 
ing remark. While a really good explosion in 
the enemy country calls for an avalanche of wit 
which to be thoroughly appreciated must be 
heard under the proper conditions. 

The bombardment continued day and night 
with more or less regularity. The spells of quiet 
were almost invariably followed by "intense" 
periods and we could not help wondering how the 
poor devils in front of us were getting along. So 
far as could be seen from our various high places, 
the front line trenches to the left of Fricourt (the 



180 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

part in which we were so vitally interested) were 
completely demolished. Instead of the even line 
of chalk parapets we could distinguish endless 
craters touching each other in a way which spoke 
well for the work of our gunners. Of the trenches 
further back little or nothing was discernible, but 
from the numerous bursts of shell it was evident 
that proper attentioTl was being given to every- 
thing within range. 

On the 26th we were told that a'hig gas attack 
was to be launched. Our men had with great la- 
bour carried the unwieldy cylinders up to the 
front line a few nights ago, and naturally enough 
they were as anxious as we were to see the at- 
tack. The weather was perfect, a slight and fa- 
vourable wind and no immediate sign of rain. 
Shortly before the appointed hour there was a 
furious bombardment lasting several minutes. 
This was intended to make the Germans keep out 
of sight so that they would not see the gas, then 
immediately before this ended the gas was liber- 
ated along various parts of our line. The poi- 
sonous yellowish smoke drifted across No Man's 
Land in the most approved way, and we all felt 
a fiendish delight in watching it. 

The dastardly attack on the wretched Cana- 
dians and others at Ypres was still fresh in our 



HELL LET LOOSE 181 

minds, and now the nation which, in violation of 
all international law and against all traditions 
of decency in warfare, had started this most 
damnable form of fighting ever dreamed of was 
to be hoist with its own petard. Its own soldiers,; 
poor creatures, were to suffer as the Canadians 
and some of our home troops had suffered. They 
were to die in agonies as those Canadians had 
died — agonies such as no man has ever known, 
and we were glad that the British, who above all 
things like to fight in a clean, sportsman-like way, 
had taken off the gloves and were fighting the 
devil with his own weapons. 

We prayed that the time might come when the 
brutal Hun would curse the day that he had pol- 
luted the earth with this vile gas, this breath of 
hell, the taint of which will rise whenever the 
ruthless war party of Germany is spoken of. It 
was as though two boxers were in the ring and 
one, finding that he could not win fairly, threw 
vitriol into the face of his opponent and then 
downed him when he was blinded and helpless. 
The pick of the German soldiers could not con- 
quer those heroes at Ypres by fair means even 
though they were vastly superior in numbers 
and in artillery equipment, and so, in cowardly 
determination to win at any cost, they used the 



182 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

gas which had been made several years before and 
kept ready for just such an emergency. But 
God was with us and the heroic resistance offered 
by our suffering men must stand forever as a 
monument to them, while a monument of quite a 
different kind will stand for the fiendish brutal- 
ity of Germany. 

Such were the thoughts which ran through our 
minds as in silence we watched those slowly mov- 
ing death-dealing clouds that poisoned the very 
ground they crossed. Had any one told us two 
years before that we, who called ourselves civi- 
lised people, would have stood still and actually 
taken satisfaction in watching our men fight with 
such means we would have refused to believe it. 

Do not think, kind reader ( if you are one who 
has not been in the fight) , that this means that we 
are becoming brutalised, not at all. No man is 
more human or humane than our fellows at the 
front. The stories of their unselfish kindness and 
sympathy would fill volumes, but this is a war for 
our existence, and for the existence of all we hold 
most dear, freedom in its greatest sense, with the 
right for all to live decently, whether they be 
strong or weak, and against those who threaten 
our right we must fight with whatever weapons 
they choose. We accepted their choice of wea- 



HELL LET LOOSE 183 

pons when the duel started. It was to be guns, 
and they had the greater ones, and their numbers 
were incalculably greater. Yet we accepted. 
Then they decided to fight with gas, yes, and li- 
quid fire, and every horror known to science, and 
we too have called in our scientists, and we too 
will use gas and every other form of horror. This 
has been asked for by Germany and she shall 
have all she gives and the measure shall be filled 
and pressed down, and it shall overflow. We 
shall compete with the Germans in all things 
save one, the committing of atrocities, in that she 
may reign supreme, but in everything else she 
must take second place. 

The gas attack we were watching on this beau- 
tiful day of June lasted less than half an hour, so 
far as we could see, but for those unfortunate 
creatures in the enemy trenches the effects were 
of much longer duration. They probably thought 
that we intended to launch our attack as soon as 
the gas got in its deadly work and to ward it off 
they put up a terrific barrage or curtain of fire 
across our front line, thereby wasting a lot of 
ammunition, but it gave them the satisfaction of 
imagining that they had succeeded in preventing 
our attack. 

Owing to the arrival of vast numbers of cav- 



184 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

airy the Brigade staff together with one Bat- 
talion, machine gunners and sundry other parts 

of our unit were instructed to move from V e 

to B e. At one o'clock we were to leave so 

the men were given dinner before starting. In 
Brigade H. Q. we were about half-way through 
our lunch when the familiar whooooooo of a shell 
interrupted the conversation. The beastly thing 
seemed to be coming directly for us, and we ex- 
pected to see it land on the table. Suddenly 
there was a terrific explosion, the shell had 
dropped in the centre of a courtyard about one 
hundred and fifty yards in front of us. Unfor- 
tunately a number of our men were in this yard 
having their meal. The scene which resulted 
was indescribable, and in the midst of it all, the 
cries of the mutilated and dying men were 
drowned by the roars of another and still an- 
other shell. The second shot accounted for a 
number of our men in the street when they had 

assembled to move to B e. The third one 

landed in a garden one hundred yards from our 
H. Q. where it killed a poor little girl who was 
playing with her kitten. 

Relief for the many wounded was needed im- 
mediately, but the doctors and all their staff had 
left for B e, so there was a delay, as unfortu- 



HELL LET LOOSE 185 

nate as it was unavoidable. How small a thing 
influences lives, only by the merest chance had it 
been decided that we should not leave V e un- 
til after lunch. According to the original plan 
we were to have gone at eleven that morning. 
Had we done so this ghastly misfortune would 
not have happened. 

That evening in the new quarters our Brigade 
following the usual custom in the British Army 
indulged in an open-air day-before-the-battle con- 
cert which was thoroughly well attended. Ex- 
cept for a few seats arranged for the officers it 
was a case of "standing room only," not alone was 
every inch of standing room in the square court- 
yard taken, but the surrounding buildings were 
occupied inside and out, that is to say windows 
and roofs. A small rough stage had been erected 
on which a piano was placed. This instrument 
had very evidently not been tuned since the war 
began, or perhaps since the war of 1870. Any- 
how it was not in tune. However, that made little 
difference. Among the four Battalions there was 
quite a fair share of talent. Some of it was pro- 
fessional, but the greater part was amateur, or 
very much amateur. 

The poets of the Brigade had been very busy, 
especially the wags, and as this was an extra 



186 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

special night there was considerable license al- 
lowed, with the result that any of our officers 
who were possessed of peculiarities had them 
thoroughly aired to the great amusement of all 
hands. No one was respected from the Briga- 
dier down. Some of the songs were decidedly 
amusing, at times even witty. Of course there 
was a sprinkling of the mawkish sentimental stuff 
that so thoroughly delights some of our people; 
the "Don't kick your mother when she's down," 
and "The pore girl hadn't got no friends" type. 
There were topical songs on the Kaiser and his 
kind, in fact no subject was neglected and all 
were sung to the accompaniment of the guns 
which never for a moment ceased. But though 
we all laughed a great deal, to many of us there 
was something unspeakably sad about the whole 
performance. It was almost as though a num- 
ber of men, condemned to death, were giving a 
minstrel show on the eve of their execution. 

A great many of those fine jovial fellows who 
were singing funny songs or laughing so vocifer- 
ously to-night would be laying stark and still 
within a very few hours, and as each one would 
mount the rude platform and do his part in the 
entertainment I found myself wondering whether 
he was one of those doomed to make the great sac- 



HELL LET LOOSE 187 

rifice. Yet in spite of the conditions it was a jolly 
evening and one could not help admiring the 
splendid spirits and remarkable behaviour of the 
men, for though this was the last night on which 
any liquor, beer, or wine would be bought or used, 
there was not a man present who was the worse 
for drink. The morrow held no terror for them. 
The Great Push was to be the greatest adventure 
of their lives, and their one thought was that at 
last the time was come when we were to know 
whether our civilians' army had been sufficiently 
trained to stand successfully against Germany's 
professional army, and judging from the atti- 
tude of our men they felt not the slightest doubt 
as to the outcome. 

Scarcely had the concert (so called for lack of 
a better name) ended than to our disgust a gentle 
rain commenced. If there was one thing we 
needed more than another to make our offensive 
a success it was fine weather. Rain, apart from 
the frightful personal discomfort, meant a 
marked decrease in the efficiency of our shells, 
and added enormous difficulties to the advance of 
the infantry and artillery. The ground was com- 
posed largely of chalk, which when wet became 
so slippery that in the open, and still more so in 
the trenches, a man heavily laden with all the 



188 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

paraphernalia of battle could make headway only 
with the greatest difficulty. So we dreaded rain, 
but our dreading it seemed to make no difference, 
for it continued all that night and most of the 
following day. The attack was to have been made 
early in the morning of the 29th and already part 
of our Brigade had gone to their positions in the 
line when the order came that the "Show" was 
postponed for forty-eight hours. Any one would 
have thought from the attitude of the men, when 
this bad news was broken to them, that they had 
been told their leave was cancelled, which is the 
worst news a man can get at the front. Never 
have I seen men so depressed and disap- 
pointed. Nothing could console them, not even 
such remarks as one in broad Yorkshire which I 
happened to overhear. 

"Don't th' care, Tom, thou's got coople more 
days to live." The delay though unavoidable 
was most unfortunate for it undoubtedly knocked 
out a lot of the enthusiasm which is such a valu- 
able asset in an attack. However it could not 
be helped and we spent the two days doing noth- 
ing as assiduously as possible, but in spite of all 
our efforts the hours dragged along with painful 
slowness. 



CHAPTER X 

Battle of the Somme — The Great Day 

The day had at last arrived when we were to 
move forward, yes, really forward, when we were 
to know whether the months of preparation and 
training were to give the great results that we all 
hoped for, and many expected. What terrific 
activity had been concentrated during these 
months, not alone in the field armies but at home 
and abroad where the gigantic supplies of am- 
munition had been made. From the mines which 
produced the metals, and the ships which had 
brought the supplies to England, the feverish ac- 
tivity in the great factories which had been turn- 
ing out guns of all sorts and sizes, and all types 
of shells, from those required for the little field 
gun to the monster implements of destruction 
weighing more than a ton apiece, to the endless 
supplies of all kinds needed in such vast quanti- 
ties. 

Then the bringing of all this material to 
France. What a story that in itself would make. 

189 



190 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

How the vessels were brought through the sub- 
marine and mine-infested seas and what care- 
ful management had been necessary. It had in- 
deed been a period of elaborate and colossal prep- 
aration such as the world has never known, and 
now we were to make use of all this great thought 
and labour. We were to launch our first really 
big attack against the so-called impregnable po- 
sition of the Germans. We were to know within 
a few hours whether or not our new armies would 
prove equal to the task of beating the highly 
trained soldiers of Germany. That we should 
succeed no one of us for a moment ever doubted. 
We were full of that splendid hope and trust 
which coupled with the wonderful cheerful spirits 
of the British soldier, be he of the old thoroughly 
trained lot or of the new army, which makes up 
in enthusiasm what it may lack in training, car- 
ries through to ultimate victory regardless of the 
difficulties encountered. 

It was on the 30th day of June that we moved, 
each Battalion leaving its billets at the appointed 
minute while the men bid good-bye to the little 

village of B e, the little village where we had 

spent so many jolly days, and which was never 
again to be seen by a large proportion of those 



THE GREAT DAY 191 

cheerful fellows who sang and cheered as they 
passed along the white dusty street. The songs 
they sang as they marched to battle were not of 
deeds of valour, nor were they of battle at all, 
far from it — just cheerful ones expressing deep 
sentiment and feeling. As the splendid fellows 
vanished into distance I heard : 

"Keep the home fires burning while your hearts 

are yearning 
Though your lads are far away they dream of 

home. 
There's a silver lining through the dark cloud 

shining; 
Turn the dark clouds inside out till the boys come 

home." 

It was sung as a message of comfort and hope 
and was the very spirit of the men, showing how 
they are always thinking of home, of those who 
are waiting and watching and dreading the news 
which the next few hours might bring. 

It was my duty to remain with the Brigade 
Staff which would of course be the last to leave. 
I therefore had the opportunity to watch the four 
Battalions move away, and bid farewell, and 
Godspeed, to as good a lot of fellows as ever 
lived. Fortunately one does not have much time 
for thinking under such conditions for there is 



192 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

endless work to be done, and every moment is 
precious so the day passed only too quickly. 

Toward evening, having left our possessions in 
the care of those who must remain behind we 
(the Brigadier, the Staff Major, the Brigade 
bombing and signalling officers and myself) rode 
forward to within a mile of the front line.. Then 
we dismounted, sent the horses back, and con- 
tinued on foot through the crowded communica- 
tion trenches toward the Brigade dugout. The 
noise of the incessant bombardment was simply 
appalling. It seemed as though every gun in 
the whole country was firing at maximum speed, 
and the late evening sky was a great glow of crim- 
son and orange, as the shells burst along the 
enemy lines. The scene was grandly impressive 
for it showed with what power the great offensive 
was being undertaken. The long dreary months 
of inactivity had ended. The dearth of guns and 
shells, which for nearly two years had been a con- 
tinued source of chagrin and mortification to us, 
was now a thing of the past. Apparently our 
supplies of all the material necessary for the con- 
duct of a great modern war were unlimited, and 
it put heart into us to a degree that can scarcely 
be comprehended by those who have had no part 
in the actual fighting. 



THE GREAT DAY 193 

As we passed groups of moving or resting 
men it was a pleasure to watch their faces. A 
glorious cheerfulness was reflected in every coun- 
tenance. That the gi'eat chance of death within 
a very few hours was certain did not manifest 
itself in any way, and well might the casual ob- 
server have thought from the endless jokes and 
laughter that these splendid men were a lot of 
boys on their way to a game, rather than that 
they were going into what was destined to be one 
of the biggest battles the world had ever known. 
It made one proud to belong to a race which can 
take the most serious side of life with such mag- 
nificent spirit, a spirit which nothing can crush, 
and which temporary defeat makes only more 
evident and irresistible. 

The long walk through that narrow crowded 
trench was very tedious, but eventually we 
reached the Brigade Headquarters dugout, 
which was within a stone's throw of the actual 
front-line trench, and there found the staff of 
messengers and signallers, telephonists, etc., al- 
ready at their places. The dugout, like all of 
ours, was a roughly-made temporary affair, so 
very different from the elaborate structures made 
by the Germans, and it seemed to reflect the dif- 
ference in the point of view of the two sides. We 



194 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

regarded our stay on the Somme line as of tran- 
sient interest, as we intended to move forward as 
soon as possible, while the Germans apparently 
built their complicated and wonderful under- 
ground lines for an indefinite period of occupa- 
tion, in fact as though they expected to remain in 
them for the rest of their natural lives, as indeed 
many of them did. 

Needless to say every inch of trench space was 
occupied, not only with men, but with supplies of 
all kinds, such as ammunition, bombs, stretchers, 
picks, shovels, wire, water, and the hundred and 
one things that might be needed when we moved 
forward. Over the trenches were numerous ar- 
tillery bridges to allow the guns to be rushed 
forward without a moment's delay after the in- 
fantry had reached the German lines, scaling 
ladders lined every trench to assist the men in 
doing the "parapet hop" with the least possible 
difficulty. Everything that careful thought and 
foresight could provide for had been done. As 
each unit arrived it took up its position according 
to the prearranged plans. There was seething 
activity, but no confusion, except possibly when 
an enemy shell landed in a crowded area and sent 
a group of wretched men to eternity. 

In the Brigade dugout the telephones were 



THE GREAT DAY 195 

constantly busy reporting all that was going on. 
Each company on arrival would, of course, re- 
port to the Brigadier and by two a. m. every 
man was accounted for, and we had to wait pa- 
tiently for the passing of the few hours that re- 
mained before the zero minute would arrive. All 
watches were carefully synchronised but so far 
as we were concerned the zero remained a mys- 
tery kept absolutely secret by those in command. 
Dawn came slowly over that rumbling area. 
A cool clear dawn, lighted by a sun which fought 
its way through the heavy smoke-laden atmos- 
phere. Between the angry reports of exploding 
shells, and the crackhng of the machine guns, 
came the liquid notes of the larks, singmg in the 
sky, as unconcerned as though they had always 
lived in the midst of hurtling shells. In the woods 
back of Fricourt the voice of the cuckoo could 
be heard, and it seemed strangely out of place. 
One always associates it with the quiet of the 
country and here it was mingling its sweet notes 
with the ghastly droon of the passing shells, and 
the terrific explosions which shook the very earth. 
Above all, our aeroplanes policed the sky 
watching the enemy's lines with hawk-like keen- 
ness Throughout the trenches there was a 
strange ominous quiet. A suppressed excite- 



196 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

ment pervaded everywhere. Men spoke in 
hushed voices. The gi^eat moment must soon 
come when they were to prove themselves men. 
As they talked they smoked incessantly. At no 
time is the cigarette more blessed than during the 
period preceding an attack, when the minutes 
move so slowly, and the pulse beats with undue 
speed. 

Higher and higher rose the sun that memor- 
able first day of July, 1916. Its warmth was 
grateful to the huddled masses of waiting men, 
for under keen but suppressed excitement one 
feels a queer coldness that is almost painful — the 
throat becomes parched and the tongue dry and 
hard. Word was finally passed along that 7.30 
was to be the zero minute, and with this knowl- 
edge there was a sense of relief, for then all knew 
that the suspense would soon end. Hot tea was 
served to the men as they ate their breakfasts and 
what a Godsend that tea was. Surely no army 
was ever taken care of in the matter of food as 
ours has been in France. Seldom if ever is there 
any hitch in the arrangements and food comes 
with a regularity, and of a quality, that is a con- 
stant source of surprise and wonder, notwith- 
standing the existing conditions which so often 
are more than unfavourable. 




SCALING LADDKRS BEIXG PUT IN POSITION BEFORE 
AN ATTACK 

So that tlie men can easily leave tlie trendies and do the 
parapet hop. 



THE GREAT DAY 197 

Seven-fifteen came at last and with it a terrific 
intense bombardment of the enemy's lines. The 
whole horizon was a great cloud of bursting shells. 
IMore and more shells tore through the air, and 
rained death and destruction on the wretched 
Germans, and we could not but feel a sense of 
pity for the poor creatures who had to undergo 
such a devastating fire. It must have been hell- 
ish, and they had been having this with only slight 
intermission for eight long days. 

Just before the minute hand pointed to the 
half hour the bombardment eased up, and only 
the barrage fire over the second and third lines 
was continued. Then at the exact moment our 
whole line from Thiepval to near Fay (the 
French having the part on our right southward 
from Bray) emerged from the trenches, and No 
Man's Land over which for nearly two years no 
human being had dared to venture, except under 
the deceptive darkness of night, was covered with' 
wave after wave of thin lines of khaki-clad men 
marching slowly and steadily toward the Ger- 
man trenches. 

Heavens! what a picture that was. What a 
grand picture of courage and discipline! 

As far as one could see, on either side, those 
lines moved with a deadly precision, facing a 



198 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

withering machine gun fire which thinned their 
ranks at an appalhng rate, until of the first lines 
but few remained, but those, God bless them, 
went on and on. No hesitation, no faltering, just 
a grim determination to go forward until stopped 
by bullet or shell, for nothing else could halt 
them. On they went over that field of vivid scar- 
let poppies, whose colour seemed to stand as a 
symbol of the fine red blood that was being shed 
so lavishly for the salvation of the world, while 
the sky-blue cornflowers, and the gleaming white 
of the chalk-lined trenches, together with the red 
poppies, gave the red, white and blue, the national 
colours of the British and French who were fight- 
ing side by side for the greatest cause the world 
has ever known (and joined now by the Amer- 
icans whose colours, by happy augury, are the 
same). 

There was so much to be done that it was im- 
possible to give more than an occasional glance 
at what was going on, but apparently, barring 
only the terrific machine gun fire which played 
such havoc with our men everything was going 
on as planned. 

Our Brigade was on the left of Fricourt, and 
the two Battalions of my regiment, the King's 
Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, were side by side 



THE GREAT DAY 199 

on the front line of the assault while the Durhams 
and East Yorkshires followed in support. We 
were unfortunately unable to reach our more ad- 
vanced objectives owing to the heavy fire, and to 
our great number of casualties, but we got as far 
as the sunken road within an hour or so. This 
point is on the immediate left of Fricourt, which 
we eventually expected to surround. The de- 
fensive works of the village were so powerful that 
it was not considered wise to take it by assault, 
but to force its evacuation by threatening to cut 
off the garrison. Along most of the total line of 
attack, about twenty miles all told, things were 
going well. At La Boisselle the enemy offered a 
very stiff resistance and at one place the assault- 
ing troops had gone rather too far, and had omit- 
ted to clear the first and second line trenches; 
this unfortunately resulted in very troublesome 
conditions a little later that day. At Thiepval 
our line was unable to advance against the steep 
hill side and very powerfully fortified positions, 
but elsewhere we were succeeding splendidly as 
was shown by the reports which were contmually 
coming in by telephone and runners. 

At about nine o'clock our Brigadier decided to 
go forward with the Brigade Major to see per- 
sonally how we were doing, as we had lost so 



200 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

heavily in officers that it was hard to get reliable 
information through the many field telephones 
which had been carried forward and whose wires 
were constantly cut. I was sent with certain in- 
structions to the Headquarters' Staff and told to 
rejoin the Brigadier as soon as possible. He, 
however, had vanished when I returned some ten 
minutes later, and though I hunted through every 
trench and inquired from the men who were mov- 
ing forward, and the wounded who were return- 
ing, I could get no trace of him, and so, after half 
an hour, I returned to the dugout, for it had sud- 
denly occurred to me that by some oversight no 
officer had been left in charge and important mes- 
sages might be coming in at any moment. On 
my way back I had to leave the trench as it was 
entirely blocked with wounded men who were try- 
ing to make their way back to the dressing sta- 
tion. It was remarkable how cheerful they were, 
smiling and joking about their wounds, in the 
most extraordinary way, and nearly all of them 
were smoking. 

The men I passed were of many different regi- 
ments, a ghastly, bleeding, battle-marked lot. 
Some of my own fellows would recognise me 
and would laughingly ask what I thought of the 
regiment, how it had behaved, all so glad to 



THE GREAT DAY SOI 

have actually started the Germans on their back- 
ward path. Some would give the sad news of so- 
and-so's death, how he had died "grandly," as 
they expressed it. We had had a little reverse 
at Loos the previous year, which, through no 
fault of the men or officers, had given the whole 
division a slight bad mark. The men had al- 
ways deeply felt and resented this and one chap 
who passed me managed to smile, in spite of 
several ghastly wounds, as he said, "Well, sir, I 
guess they won't hold Loos up against us now, 
will they?" It was rather pathetic, that he with 
all that suffering should have so keenly at heart 
the honour of the regiment, and it shows what a 
wonderful thing is the regimental esprit de corps. 
It leads men on to doing not only their best, but 
even more than their best. 

In watcning that gory procession it struck me 
what a terrible price is paid for the success of 
all military enterprises. Here was this line of 
men, who little more than an hour ago were nor- 
mal men in the finest of health and strength, and 
now maimed, and with every degree of injury, 
they painfully made their way back to the human 
repair department. The well men were rapidly 
moving eastward in countless numbers, going for- 
ward to the assistance of their comrades, while 



202 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the injured so labouriously dragged their way 
back, two human streams, the sound and the un- 
sound. Before us, all energies were devoted to 
destruction; behind us, all human power and^ 
skill tried to repair the damage. 

It was a severe test on the nerves of the 
younger and less experienced men who were go- 
ing forward, for was not this returning stream a 
terrible object lesson of what lay before them, 
and each much have wondered, perhaps subcon- 
sciously, whether or not he would have the good 
luck to be able to form a link in the endless hu- 
man chain of walking cases, or whether he would 
be disabled and doomed to remain out on the 
ground to await the kind help of the stretcher 
bearer; perhaps fortune would be still less kind 
and he might become one of those pathetic khaki 
figures that would never again move. 

Yet there was no evidence that any one suf- 
fered in spirits by the scenes. Jokes passed be- 
tween the wounded and the well, and the phrase 
was constantly heard, "Oh, you lucky beggar, 
youVe got a cushy Blighty (i.e., a "soft" wound 
which will take you to Blighty, the Indian word 
meaning England or home) or "Cheero, lad, y're 
going back home, give 'em my love when you get 
there." 



THE GREAT DAY 203 

Here and there a poor chap would fall ex- 
hausted, and his fellow-sufferers would try to 
help him along, or plaee him gently in a con- 
venient recess of the trench to await the arrival 
of the stretcher bearers who were already over- 
burdened with work. No one seemed in the least 
downhearted, for were we not winning, were we 
not already safely in the German trenches, the 
trenches we had been staring at by day and by 
night for so many months, the trenches from 
which the well-equipped enemy had been dealing 
out a regular death rate to our fellows, who 
through lack of munitions had been unable to 
retaliate. And now all was changed, we were 
to become the upper dogs, and the Germans were 
to feel our fangs biting deeply, and still more 
deeply, until their life's blood would be let, and 
they would cry for the mercy which they had de- 
nied to others. 

About this time the sight of the first batch of 
prisoners gave a great sense of satisfaction. Some 
thirty or forty of the grey figures came stream- 
ing across No Man's Land with hands held 
high, and all equipment removed. Some wore 
the uncouth steel helmets, some caps, while many 
were bareheaded, and most of them were in a 
pitiful state of nervousness. The effect of the 



^04 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

long artillery bombardment was only too evi- 
dent, not only causing shock to their system, but 
numbers had been without food and water for 
many hours, the heavy shelling had made it im- 
possible to bring up rations to the more isolated 
positions. Altogether I felt sorry for the 
wretched fellows. So did our men who gave free- 
ly of their slender supplies of cigarettes and wa- 
ter to those who, but an hour or two earlier, they 
had been trying to kill. That is one of the splen- 
did things about Tommy Atkins. He bears not 
the slightest resentment against his erstwhile foe. 
The moment he surrenders he is treated with the 
utmost kindness, and never once have I heard 
any disparaging or unkind remarks made, as 
long as the prisoners behave properly. This first 
lot seemed to be greatly relieved at being taken. 
For them the war was over, and their main idea 
was to reach as rapidly as possible a place where 
they would be safe from shells. 

My mind was painfully busy as I made my 
way over the shell-torn and body strewn ground 
between the trenches. Machine gun bullets 
whistled past in ceaseless numbers and now and 
then a screaming shell would come and throw 
great masses of earth, sand bags, or even men 
into the air. Yet it all seemed so impersonal, so 



THE GREAT DAY 205 

unreal, that one would not take any particular 
notice of it, it was as though it was meant for 
some other fellow. Now and then a momentary 
feeling of terrible, appalling fear would strike one 
as some ghastly incident occurred in the imme- 
diate vicinity, but the feeling would pass as quick- 
ly as it had come, and a keen interest in the great 
scene would take its place. I remember feeling 
the greatest possible desire to sit down and make 
sketches of the drama which was being enacted 
but of course there was no time, every minute 
being precious, and I hurried on to the dugout. 
On arriving there I found calls for help. Re- 
inforcements were urgently needed at this or that 
point, and these calls I passed on to the divisional 
headquarters. What a strange scene was that in 
the murky dugout. By the flickering yellow 
flames of a few candles, the tense faces of the 
telephone and telegraph operators could be seen 
as they took the endless messages and I could 
not help thinking of an exchange in any of the 
big cities where the hum of messages never 
stopped, but there the activities were all so peace- 
ful, and so comparatively unimportant, while here 
the lives of men, thousands of men, hung on a 
single message getting through correctly, when 



206 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the results of great plans trembled in the balance 
of a few throbs of the wire. 

As an accompaniment to the unseen calls was 
the steady booming of the guns, great and small, 
our guns and those of the enemy, it all seemed 
like a gigantic thunderstorm of endless duration. 
Now and then a sweating messenger would crawl 
in exhausted, bringing word from some outlying 
company whose wires had all been broken. Per- 
haps the man was one of three or four who had 
started with duplicate messages, and where were 
the others ? God knows, for these trusty runners 
who bring word across the open shell-torn area 
pay a heavy price for their splendid work. Yet 
they do not hesitate, for on them depends the wel- 
fare of many of their comrades. 

Shortly before noon the Brigadier returned, 
and I immediately placed before him copies of 
all messages received and sent. Before going 

through them he told me that poor B , the 

Brigade Major, had been killed, or at least very 
badly wounded by a machine gun. They had, 
it appeared, gone forward of our most advanced 
line, in order to ascertain what was holding up 
our advance, when suddenly they saw the Ger- 
mans rushing up to a corner of Shelter Wood 
where they got the gun into action with such un- 




DURING THE ADVANCE 

The men march across No Man's Land at slow speed so that 

they will not be out of breath when they reach the enemy lines. 




WAVE AFTER WAVE OF 
OUR TRENCHES 



Facing undaunted the withering machine gv 
them down Init did not stop their advance 



INFANTRY STRI-.AMEI) AeKO>S FKUM 
n fire which mowed 



*! 



THE GREAT DAY 207 

fortunate results. It was a terrible blow, for 

B was one of the finest men I have ever 

had the good fortune to meet, and I felt as 
though my very best friend had been killed. 
There was no chance of rescuing him even if he 
were still alive and there seemed little hope of 
that. Still I determined to bring back the body 
if a possible opportunity occurred. 



CHAPTER XI 

A Bad Night Among the Shells 

During the afternoon there were endless 
things requiring attention. Among others was 
the moving of our headquarters to a wretched lit- 
tle dugout in a badly battered part of the trench- 
es. Occasionally during the remaining hours of 
daylight I had to visit various parts of what that 
morning had been our front line. The sights that 
met one's eyes were not pretty and need not be 
told in detail. The terrible havoc wrought by 
some of the enemy shells where the men had as- 
sembled preparatory to going over the top, when 
whole groups of men had been annihilated beyond 
identification, was ghastly beyond description. 

Here and there I came upon the bodies of fel- 
lows of my own lot and it made me sick to see 
what the poor old Battalion had suffered. 

Still there was a gi^atification in looking over 
the great events of the day. The German line, 
which had been selected with such care, and forti- 
fied by every means known to modern military 

208 



A BAD NIGHT AMONG THE SHELLS 209 

science, so that it was deemed impregnable, had 
fallen. In less than an hour from the moment 
when our men began the move, we had occupied 
almost the entire front lines to a depth of from 
one to half a dozen lines of trenches, over a front 
of about eighteen miles. The impossible had been 
accomplished. The indomitable German troops 
had been beaten by our new armies, and the 
achievement we believed marked the beginning 
of Germany's end as a great military power. 
Never again were we to yield ground to our in- 
solent self-satisfied enemy. Slowly but steadily 
would we push forward. Looking back at it 
now, it is a great satisfaction to realise that not 
a gun have we lost since we began that forward 
move on July 1st, 1916,* and the day will stand 
for all time as marking the vindication of British 
and French armies against the foolish and unde- 
served slurs cast on them by the Huns, whose 
overbearing conceit has been doomed to such com- 
plete downfall. . . . They could not win when 
they fought us with overwhelming superiority of 
numbers and unlimited supphes of guns and am- 
munition, how then could they hope to win when 
we became more evenly matched! We had not 
forgotten the days when the famous thin khaki 

* This was written in August, 1917. 



210 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

line, without reserves or big guns, stood be- 
tween Calais and the German hordes. In over- 
whelming numbers, backed by massed artillery, 
these highly trained forces of the Kaiser at- 
tempted, again and again, to break through that 
line of immortals, and they had failed. Never 
again would they have such an opportunity. 

Shortly after dark the Brigadier told Capt. 
Y and me to go over into the newly ac- 
quired line and gather and sort out any odd 
batches of men, stragglers who had become de- 
tached from their units. Also to get any useful 
information that we could pick up. Just before 
we started, three officers were handed over to our 
care, with instructions that they were to be de- 
livered to certain units. Their names we did not 
know, and in the dark we could not see their 
faces. They were indeed strangers to us. We 
told them to follow and do exactly as we did, 
and under no conditions become separated. Mak- 
ing our way across what had been No Man's 
Land was a somewhat unpleasant task as the 
enemy kept up a constant fire, both of machine 
gun and artillery, so our progress was necessarily 
slow. 

On our way we came upon one particularly 
badly wounded man lying in the open and he 



A BAD NIGHT AMONG THE SHELLS 211 

begged to be put in a nearby trench where he 
would be comparatively safe. I was anxious to 

oblige the poor chap but Capt. Y , who was 

senior to me, declared that it was not our job 
and that w^e must move forward. Reluctantly I 
left the fellow and we continued on our precarious 
way, eventually arriving at the battered remains 
of what had been the German front line trench 
until that morning. Here we discovered that 
one of our three charges had vanished and of 
course we concluded he had been shot. 

Curiously enough seven months later when I 
rejoined the reserve battalion of my regiment in 
the North of England I found that my room- 
mate was that very officer. He described to me 
how upset he had been at the incident of the 
wounded man being left, and how it had made 
him realise the stern demands of war more than 
any other episode in his short experience. Then 
he told how he had crouched in a shell hole dur- 
ing one of the many strafes and had been unable 
to find us when he emerged. After wandering 
about in a hopeless way he had become mixed up 
among some barbed wire and been shot through 
the lung. It was a curious coincidence that we 
should have come together after those many 
months, neither having known the other's name. 



212 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

That night of wandering among the shell-torn 
German trenches, where all semblance to the orig- 
inal line had been obliterated, will always live 
in my mind as the most ghastly night of my life. 
The night was inky dark, the darkness made all 
the more overpowering by the constant flashes 
of exploding shells and the cold gleam of the 
somewhat distant Verey lights. The ground was 
but a mass of jagged craters into which we re- 
peatedly fell, often landing in the midst of torn 
and dismembered human bodies. 

Here and there we would find crouching fig- 
ures, seemingly asleep. They were silent when 
we addressed them, and when we emphasised our 
remarks by a push they rolled over stiff and cold, 
for they were dead. Sometimes groups of living 
men would be found, and these were sorted out 
according to their units, but frequently a shell 
would come and their numbers would be sadly 
thinned. The whole thing was ghastly beyond all 
description and we were both glad when finally 
we had completed our work and turned our faces 
toward headquarters. To find the way in the 
darkness was no easy matter for we had been 
wandering through the labyrinth of shell craters 
for several hours and were compelled to trust to 
our sense of direction as much as to our com- 



A BAD NIGHT AMONG THE SHELLS 213 
passes. However, at half-past one we succeeded 
in reaching our destination much to our own and 
the General's relief, for he had begun to fear 
we had been knocked out. 

During the night written reports had come in 
from the various units so that we were able to 
get a good idea of how things had been going; 
with very few exceptions everything had been 
carried out ahnost according to plans, but we 
had been forced to pay a very heavy price. My 
own regiment had suffered particularly heavy 
losses, especially in the matter of officers. Only 
one of the number that had gone over the top 
that morning had been able to remain on duty, 
the other twenty-four having been wounded or 
killed, but fortunately in many cases the wounds 
had not been very serious. The one who had re- 
mained with the men was Capt. S and he 

had stuck it out all day in spite of a wound in the 
chest. For hours he had held on to a most pre- 
carious position, not surrendering his command 
until nearly midnight when he had been reheved. 
About 2.30 a.m. he came to the Brigade Head- 
quarters to report and he was then in a terribly 
exhausted condition. With my pocket outfit I 
made him some tea to which a little rum was add- 



^U WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

ed and he has since told me that was the best 
drink he has ever tasted. 

The rest of that night was devoted to various 
tasks and there was no chance for sleep or rest. 
Supplies and reliefs had to be sent up and reports 
made out and wounded men taken care of so 
that when morning came we were still hard at it, 
and a tired and somewhat dishevelled lot we were, 
no one having had any sleep for two nights. At 
six o'clock we had a sort of breakfast, and then 
I was sent out to see how the water supply was 
holding out. On my way through the lines I sud- 
denl}^ saw a man running along and calling out 
that every one must retire at once. This struck 
us as peculiar for retiring did not appeal to any 
one as the proper or correct thing, indeed we be- 
lieved that advancing was far more in order. So 
the man was taken in charge. He was dressed as 
a private of the medical corps, a pale-faced fel- 
low wearing large glasses and having a some- 
what peculiar accent. His whole manner was 
so suspicious that it was considered advisable to 
send him to headquarters in custody of a cor- 
poral. What happened to him can only be con- 
jectured but there is little doubt that he was a 
German who with great pluck was trying the ruse 
to force our men to retreat. Such acts are not 



A BAD NIGHT AMONG THE SHELLS 215 

rare and occasionally they succeed though more 
often the man who attempts it pays with his life 
for his audacity. 

On reaching the comparatively safe valley on 
the edge of Becourt Wood in which various head- 
quarters were situated I noticed a verj^ fine look- 
ing sergeant walking a short distance ahead of 
me. About a hundred yards away on the oppo- 
site side of the valley the hillside was crowded with 
big guns. These were firing more or less con- 
tinually so that as the shells flew over our heads 
the noise was deafening. Suddenly the big ser- 
geant spun round and fell. I rushed up to see 
what happened and found him stone dead. A 
piece of shell band having broken off a passing 
projectile had made a ghastly wound in his head. 

There was nothing to be done, so I continued 
on my way and discovered that our shortage 
of water in the front line was caused by a burst 
pipe. Arrangements were immediately made for 
its repair, but in the meantime water was sadly 
needed so a party was organised to carry it up in 
petrol cans. What we would do without these 
useful receptacles is hard to say for their size 
and shape renders them of the utmost value as 
water carriers and even though occasionally they 
give to the water a taste of petrol the men put 



216 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

up with it readily, for after all they are accus- 
tomed to highly flavoured water as it is well puri- 
fied with chloride of lime. One flavour more or 
less makes little difl*erence to a thirsty, tired man. 
It was nearly noon when I returned to head- 
quarters and reported the water supply in work- 
ing order. Shortly after my arrival when I had 
stolen a few minutes for a shave and a sort of 
wash some food arrived. Among the rations was 
a delicious ham which took my fancy for I had 
not had any real food since the beginning of the 
battle. Our dugout was so small that eating in 
it was out of the question so the ham was placed 
on a sandbag on the side of the trench; taking a 
knife and fork from my haversack I was about 
to cut a nice fat slice, but at the moment I put 
the fork into position a messenger came along and 
with due politeness I stepped back against the 
side of the trench which was very narrow, in or- 
der to give him room. Scarcely had he passed 
when with a dull sickening screech a large piece 
of shell casing came flying down and struck the 
sandbag exactly where my left wrist would have 
been had I continued the ham cutting operation. 
Besides taking my hand off* it would undoubtedly 
have destroyed my watch, and as this had been 
given to me by my wife it would have been most 



A BAD NIGHT AMONG THE SHELLS 217 

annoying, while to have lost my hand while carv- 
ing a ham would not have been very glorious. I 
doubt even if I could even have had the satis- 
faction of claiming to have been "wounded in ac- 
tion." For a souvenir I dug the piece of iron 
out of the sand bag, it having gone completely 
through one and partly through the second, and 
then I cut the ham which proved to be quite as 
good as it looked. 



CHAPTER XII 

Captured Lines and Prisoners 

After lunch I was told to take a party of men 
with rations and ammunition to be distributed 
among the Battalions of our Brigade which were 
holding the new line. Instead of going across the 
open of No Man's Land which was being fairly 
heavily shelled I was told to follow a certain new 
sap which led from the left of our position to the 
conquered trenches. This sounded quite easy, 
and would have been had not the Germans kept 
up a very unwelcome and incessant bombard- 
ment, many of the shells falling along that par- 
ticular piece of trench. Snipers too were watch- 
ing every shallow part of our trenches so that the 
greatest caution was necessary. 

The whole .line was blocked with dead and 
wounded in ghastly confusion with all sorts of 
debris and with shattered sand bags by the thou- 
sand. Through this mass of wreckage, human 
and material, we made our way slowly and pain- 
fully. Here and there I would test a particu- 

218 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS 219 

larly shallow part by holding up a ''tin hat" as 
though a man were moving along and it always 
brought a rattle of bullets so it was a constant 
case of "low bridge." Eventually we reached the 
sap only to find that it was crowded to its utmost 
capacity with wriggling lines of men coming and 
going. So thickly were they packed that over 
an hour passed before we were able to add our 
number to this sweating mass. No sooner had 
we entered than I met the Colonel of one of our 
Battalions. He was lying at the entrance of a 
shallow dugout badly wounded, having been shot 
the previous morning. He begged me to get 
stretcher bearers for him. A splendid man he 
was and I would have given anything to help him 
but under the conditions I could not leave my 
party. All I could do was to send word by a 
passing stretcher bearer who was heroically try- 
ing to carry out a badly wounded man on his 
back. He was almost exhausted but promised 
to do his best. Later the Colonel was carried 
out and taken to England where I regret to say 
he died. 

Slowly, very slowly, we moved forward while 
the shells dropped with disgusting persistence 
along the whole line, now and then making a di- 
rect hit and causing a blockade of killed and in- 



220 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

jured. It was impossible to do more than give 
the most hasty attention to the wounded and 
then prop them against the broken side of the 
trench for there was no room for stretcher bear- 
ers. Suddenly in the midst of the uproar came 
the call "German bombers are in the trench, get 
back as fast as you can." There was no word as 
to who had given the order and any attempt to 
go back would have been disastrous if not impos- 
sible. A regular panic was starting for the men 
believed themselves caught in a trap. The posi- 
tion demanded rapid action. Telling my party 
to stand fast behind me I drew my revolver and 
swore I would shoot the first man that moved 
toward me. It was a ticklish moment as the men, 
unnerved, and tired after the incessant work of 
the past two days, to say nothing of the lack of 
sleep, were not in condition to reason. Still the 
revolver made them hesitate long enough for me 
to ask from whom the order came. This delay 
saved the situation and they soon realised that 
no one knew where or how it had originated. I 
noted one man without a rifle. To be unarmed 
while in the front line is a crime, so I called out 
asking where his rifle was. He, seeing one on the 
ground nearby, declared that it was his and had 
been pushed out of his hand by the crowd. He 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS 221 

quickly picked it up but in doing so accidentally 
put his finger on the trigger and a shot whizzed 
past my head, missing me by a few inches. Need- 
less to say I was thoroughly frightened. 

Gradually order was resumed and we once 
more moved forward very slowly and finally af- 
ter innumerable delays reached the old German 
front line. Then came the question where were 
we to find our Battalion. For an hour we wan- 
dered about through the most thoroughly dev- 
astated piece of ground I have ever seen. Not a 
semblance of any trench remained, nothing but 
an endless succession of craters of every size; as 
though there were not enough still more were 
constantly being made by the Germans who were 
shelling the region with great persistence. Vari- 
ous groups of men told us just where our lot 
were to be found but all the information proved 
valueless and simply led to our doing a lot of 
hard walking and climbing. Finally I left the 
men to rest for they were heavily loaded with 
supplies and taking a couple of N.C.O.'s* with 
me went on a tour of investigation. The only re- 
sult was that from one point we had a splendid 
view of the storming of the shattered village of 

* Non-commissioned officer, i, e., any one above the rank of private 
and below the rank of Second Lieutenant 



222 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

La Boisselle. This was of the greatest interest 
for we could see how well our men did their work. 
Yet to see how the lines were thinned by the ter- 
rific machine-gun fire made one feel utterly sick. 

After dodging a few shells and nearly getting 
lost in the labyrinth of craters, I succeeded in 
getting back to my party. They had almost de- 
cided to start off on their own account, imagin- 
ing that I had been "scuppered" (the vernacu- 
lar for killed) for I had been gone such a long 
time. As far as we could see there was no hope 
of finding the remains of our Battalions to which 
we were trying to bring supplies. Every land- 
mark was obliterated by the long continued bom- 
bardment. 

The German system of trenches, which I firmly 
believed I knew thoroughly, no longer existed, in 
its place there was only an endless array of 
craters of all sizes, with here and there the re- 
mains of a dugout the entrance to which was 
in most cases filled with mangled bodies torn 
beyond belief. Some of these were still wearing 
gas protecting helmets, showing that they had 
been caught by our gas attack of the 26th. Noth- 
ing more gi'otesque or horrible can be imagined 
than these figures, black or yellow from the ef- 
fects of different poisonous gases, and wearing 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS 223 

the masks. The protruding retainers hung from 
their mouths and gave them the appearance of 
some hideous animal. 

In the craters were numerous bodies exposed 
or partly buried, both Germans and our own men, 
showing how severe the fighting had been. Sev- 
eral of the Germans still clutched in their stiff 
cold hands rifles, to which were attached the saw- 
edged bayonet, and on the teeth of some of these 
barbarous weapons was the proof that they are 
used for other purposes than the cutting of 
wood. The Boche claims that they belong to 
the pioneers and are not used in fighting, but 
the claim bears as much relation to truth as some 
of his other statements which he hoped the world 
would swallow. 

While we were trying to discover the where- 
abouts of our lost units the enemy began a very 
unpleasant strafe. Shell after shell landed 
around us and made the task of moving about 
decidedly risky, I might even say dangerous. It 
is one thing to have to cross a shelled zone and 
go straight from one point to another, but to 
wander about crawling in and out of craters, 
being sniped wherever you exposed your anat- 
omy in getting out of one crater and into an- 
other, and expecting a five-inch or larger shell 



S24 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

to be your boon companion when you got snugly 
into the crater, while you know the men you are 
looking for are carefully hidden, well, it is not 
quite as nice as you may think, in fact I can 
honestly say that I was frightened and the inces- 
sant noise of bursting shells was head-splitting. 
After various disagreeable things had hap- 
pened, things about which one simply cannot 
write, I decided to return and try later on to 
get the supplies delivered under the cover of 
night. It was easy enough to make this decision 
but quite another thing to carry it out. The 
communication trench, or sap, through which we 
had come was being shelled more vigorously 
than ever, and if possible it was even more 
crowded. Unfortunately it was the only avail- 
able cover; to have gone out in the open would 
have been neither more nor less than suicide, as 
the Boches still held the opposite slope of Sau- 
sage Valley where they had a number of machine 
guns. These raked every inch of No Man's 
Land in this neighbourhood. The fact that they 
were there was due to a slight mistake that had 
occurred the previous day. Steps were being 
taken, in the form of a large bombing party, to 
stamp out the hornets' nest that night. I may 
add that it succeeded quite thoroughly, so much 




THE GERMAN FRONT LINE TRENCHES NEAR FRICOURT 
ftrSctufes!""'" ^'^°™"g^^I>' o"-- g"ns liad destroyed these elaborate 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS 225 

SO that not a single German escaped. Bombs of 
the Mill's grenade kind form exceedingly con- 
vincing arguments. 

Eventually we managed to make our way back 
to H. Q. dugout and I reported my complete 
failure. This was not a pleasant task, it hurt my 
pride worse than anything I have ever done. The 
Brigadier was extremely nice about it and said 
he fully understood the difficulties. Another try 
was to be made that evening when things might 
be more quiet. 

There was very good news from most parts 
of the line that night, Fricourt, the much dreaded 
strong point which our men had partly sur- 
rounded, had fallen, the Germans having been 
forced to abandon it. La Boisselle also had been 
taken, and Shelter Wood after many attempts 
was at last in our hands. 

According to the German report which ap- 
peared later they were retiring "according to 
plan." This was perfectly true, but in the offi- 
cial explanation of the great retreat which con- 
tinued for weeks they quite forgot to mention 
who made the plan. Need I add, we made it ? 

The night passed fairly quietly, evidently both 
the Germans and our men were tired after the 
two severe days, and beyond intermittent shelling 



^m WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

and a few very half-hearted counter attacks there 
was practically no offensive activity. Our men 
spent the time consolidating our newly acquired 
lines and bringing up supplies of food and am- 
munition. 

One day, I forget which, there was a rather 
amusing incident connected with the carrying of 
ammunition. Hand grenades were badly needed 
in a certain part, and some bright fellow thought 
it would be a splendid plan to make use of a batch 
of freshly captured German prisoners. So he 
marched them down to a forward supply dump 
and loaded them up with canvas buckets full of 
Mill's grenades. As I recall it there were about 
thirty men, accompanied by a guard of four of 
our fellows who marched them across No Man's 
Land toward our new line. The plan was a 
curious one and would have succeeded had not 
some senior officer discovered it. He was highly 
indignant. The employment of prisoners for 
such purpose being entirely contrary to rules and 
regulations. Had those prisoners possessed a 
proper amount of self-sacrificing patriotism they 
could have played havoc, armed as they were 
with some forty grenades apiece. That they 
would eventually have been killed it is needless 
to say, and evidently that pleasant prospect was 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS 227 

in their minds, for a more docile crew I have 
never seen. As one of the guards said, "Why 
bless yer, sir, they'd just eat out of yer 'and 
they're so bloomin' glad to be safe." 

They were a tired looking outfit, dirty and un- 
tidy and many were in a terrible nervous condi- 
tion. They declared the bombardment to which 
they had been subjected was more than human 
beings could stand and as already stated their 
water supply and food had been used up, and it 
had been impossible to bring up fresh suppHes 
owing to the incessant shelling. Occasionally a 
couple of men had managed to make their way 
back for supplies, but in most cases they were 
knocked out either going or coming, very rarely 
did one return. One of the men spoke Enghsh 
perfectly. He had been a waiter in a certain 
well-known restaurant in London. He asked 
what we were doing over there, and exhibited 
a photograph showing London completely de- 
stroyed by Zeppelins. It was a good fake and 
the man was much surprised when he heard that 
so far as the eye could see London had in no 
way changed since his departure. The Hun has 
a funny way of keeping up the national enthu- 
siasm. He quite forgets that people have mem- 
ories, and that occasionally they do reason things 



228 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

out. About a year later, that is in 1917, after one 
of the big air raids over London the people were 
informed that the metropolis was practically de- 
stroyed. This was most complimentary to us 
for apparently we are credited with being able to 
build with unheard-of speed. 

For fear that the German soldier will give 
himself up too readily they are told frightful 
tales about what we do to prisoners. We are sup- 
posed to first inflict untold tortures on them with 
the idea of eliciting information regarding mili- 
tary matters, and then, having amused ourselves 
in this way we put them to death. 

These are among the many pleasant things we 
do, and strange to say the wretched creatures in 
a number of cases believe most implicitly that 
these stories are true. We often find them offer- 
ing bribes to our men, watches, money and other 
things if only their lives may be spared. Thej^ 
appeal to our men's sympathy by showing photo- 
graphs of their wives and children, explaining 
how painful it will be for them if they never 
return. 

In one case a poor shell-shocked Boche, one 
among a batch that was being led by a some- 
what diminutive cockney, adorned with red hair, 
a freckled face and a snub nose which pointed 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS ^29 

heavenward. Not at all the hero type so far as 
appearance goes. The Boche after offering one 
by one all his valuables and receiving each time 
only a shake of the head and the remark "Nothin' 
doin' " finally handed his iron cross as though 
certain that this particular individual of the 
Thomas Atkins family could not resist such a 
tempting bribe. T. A. took it in his hand and 
the doleful Boche actually allowed a smile of 
sorts to craw^l over his gloomy face, but the smile 
died a sudden death when the little cockney 
handed back the cross with the remark, " 'Ere, 
take it back, old son, yer jolly well w^on it, didn't 
yer ?" This flabbergasted the Teuton who thought 
the brutal British had doomed him to certain 
death. What a surprise it must have been to 
him and to all the others when they found how 
thoroughly well they were treated. 

People laugh at us, and call us soft, because 
w^e err on the side of ot;^r-kindness to our pris- 
oners, regardless of the terrible provocation we 
have had to retaliate on them for the brutal way 
in which they have so often behaved to our poor 
chaps, but in the end our actions will undoubtedly 
produce greater and more far-reaching results. 
These tens of thousands that we have captured 
will spread stories when they are released which 



230 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

will help vastly in making us better understood 
throughout the whole world. 

Our men greatly prefer to fight in a clean 
sportsman-like way, and the ill treating or killing 
of prisoners "spoils the fun of fighting," as they 
say; but unfortunately the only too numerous 
examples of German treachery when captured, 
have forced our men to act in a way which would 
never be necessary if we were fighting an honour- 
able foe. 

An instance which occurred to our men on the 
Somme the first day of the battle will give an 
idea of what we are contending with. It hap- 
pened when our fellows were clearing a trench 
(this means seeing that every dugout and hiding 
place has been cleared of the enemy). They 
came to a deep dugout and called down the stair- 
way for surrender. The dugout contained some 
twenty men and officers, who replied that they 
gave themselves up. Our Yorkshire men are not 
fools and so they prepared against treachery, two 
held short-fuse grenades in readiness, while the 
other four stood by with rifles, also in readiness. 

Up came the Huns carrying no weapons and 
with hands held up in the required position. 
About eighteen men all told and our fellows, 
thinking this was the lot, were about to march the 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS 231 

batch away, when suddenly two German officers 
sprang out of the dugout with automatic pistols. 
These they proceeded to use, but our good men 
were equal to the occasion and two grenades 
quickly dropped among the treacherous brutes 
and then two more to make sure, with the result 
that our men were not encumbered with any pris- 
oners. 

Now such behaviour on the part of the Ger- 
mans is bound to produce very disagreeable ef- 
fects and they are quite certain to be the suffer- 
ers, but certainly they have no one but them- 
selves to blame. It is needless to add that our fel- 
lows decided not to waste much time when they 
came to the next dugout. Being decent meant 
taking quite unnecessary risks, and when a risk 
is unnecessary a soldier is not justified in tak- 
ing it. 

I could not help remarking on how very thor- 
oughly the remaining dugouts were cleared. Peo- 
ple may hold up their hands in righteous horror 
at this cold-blooded performance but before do- 
ing so let them consider what their feelings would 
have been had some of these men of ours been 
their own relations, brothers, fathers or hus- 
bands, and remember that had they not been 
both clever and very quick every one would have 



2S2 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

been treacherously killed. It is bad enough to 
lose ones kith and kin in regular fighting when 
all must take their chance, but to be killed by 
men, brutes perhaps would be the better word, 
whose lives you have honourably spared is quite 
different, and we must not judge our men harsh- 
ly if they do occasionally administer punishment 
for some dastardly deed of cowardly treachery 
and inhuman cruelty. When they do have the 
chance to fight cleanly and fairly they do so, 
thank God. 

In the meantime the reader having kindly par- 
doned this digression we will return to our am- 
munition carrying prisoners. 

The supply of grenades was carefully stored 
in a safe place to await the arrival of a fatigue 
(work) party and the batch of prisoners once 
more turned their backs on the field of battle; 
each step took them further from the chance of 
being killed by indiscriminate shells which in- 
sisted on falling in unexpected and quite unnec- 
essary places. Thoughtlessly enough the men 
showed their feelings of relief. They smiled, 
and that was foolish, for it gave a brilliant idea 
to their guarding angel, to himself he said ''Pris- 
oners must not be employed in carrying ammuni- 
tion, that's right enough, but the blighters can 



CAPTURED LINES AND PRISONERS 

be put to the very useful task of carrying water 
for the poor beggars who are so busy in the front 
hne, good idea that's what they'll do," and they 
did, and no one got into a row about it. I think 
it is quite safe to say that no water ever tasted 
sweeter to our men than that chlorinated, pet- 
rolated, warm water carried to them by the 
Boche prisoners. As one fellow remarked as he 
drank "to the Kaiser's 'ealth in 'ell," "It's the 
nectar of the gods." 



CHAPTER XIII 

The Toll of Battle 

During the morning of the 3rd there was no 
special work for me to do for an hour or two so 
I employed myself searching for wounded men, 
many of whom had been laying out in the open 
for over two days. 

During any big "push" there is bound to be 
this unfortunate delay in picking up the wound- 
ed, it is unavoidable. The number that fall is 
so large that it completely overwhelms the 
stretcher bearers who work to the very limit of 
their power. All lightly wounded men who can 
possibly manage it are asked to make their way 
as best they can to the nearest dressing station, 
but there are vast numbers who cannot walk, 
and who must therefore await assistance. These 
poor fellows have a way of crawling into shell 
holes for safety so that they are hidden, and it 
is difficult to discover them. Then also if badly 
injured they keep so quiet that they are easily 
mistaken for the dead with which in this great 

234 




A BRITISH T0:MMY LEADING A WOUNDED HUN 
The remarkable kindness shown by our men to any one who is 
wounded, whether he is a friend or enemy, is a constant source 
of surprise to all who see it. 



I 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE 236 

battle the ground was strewn, as far as the eye 
could see. Nearly every one of these bodies must 
be examined and the stretcher bearers were so 
terribly overworked that many a badly wounded 
man necessarily must be passed for dead during 
the earlier hurried examinations. 

No words can give any adequate idea of the 
splendid work of the stretcher bearer. No praise 
is too high for him. He has none of the excite- 
ment of those who fight, none of the glory of 
wresting trenches from the enemy. His is the 
hard, gruesome, yet wonderful work of mercy. 
No sooner has a "show" begun than he is needed, 
and from then on he must not stop, day and 
night. In the comparative shelter of trenches 
or in the shell-swept open, facing danger without 
a thought for his own safety, his one idea is to 
find those who have fallen, and by some method 
get them back to the dressing station. 

Often it is impossible to move the wounded 
man, then the stretcher bearer does what he can 
to dress the wound and make the sufferer as 
comfortable as possible. To friend and foe the 
same treatment is given. Once a man is down, 
his nationality makes no difference, but when 
possible the wise and careful stretcher bearer re- 
moves anj^ weapons from within the reach of the 



236 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 



1 



wounded German. For sad experience has 
taught the lesson that many a one that has been 
wounded after having been bound up by our 
fellows has returned good for evil by shooting 
his benefactors in the back. 

Those who have never seen the stretcher bear- 
er at work can have no idea of the difficulties 
he encounters. Carrying men who are acting 
the part of the wounded in beautiful synmietrical 
home-made practice trenches appears so easy, 
but to carry a really wounded man through ir- 
regular shell torn trenches, which are perhaps 
crowded with moving troops or strewn with 
wounded and dead, is a task that calls for un- 
tiring strength and patience. The fact that a 
few minutes' delay may make all the difference 
in the man's chance of being saved, adds a nerv- 
ous strain which cannot be described. 

During the two hours I had to spare this morn- 
ing there was a good opportunity of seeing the 
wonderful work of the S. Bs and as I did what 
I could to help, my admiration became greater 
and greater. Some of the sights were too ghast- 
ly to be spoken of, but one thing above all others 
which impressed itself on me w^as the truly heroic 
patience and pluck of the wounded, seldom a 
groan, never a complaint and usually a murmured 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE 237 

word of thanks for any help they received; and 
people dare to say that war brutalises men. I 
thank God that I have seen what men can be, for 
I have never known it in peace time, and I say, 
without fear of contradiction ( and I do not count 
the contradiction of the stay-at-homes, they do 
not know ) , that the very finest that is in a man 
is developed out there. The callous gain hearts, 
yes, great big hearts. The soft-hearted suffer. 
Lord how they suff*er, but their suffering be- 
comes unselfish. They swallow their own ag- 
onies as they help the poor mutilated beings 
that so often have lost all resemblance to men. 
Perhaps at home these soft-hearted super-sensi- 
tive men, and there are plenty such, would be 
called /am^-hearted. They might not allow 
themselves to help an injured creature for fear 
of harrowing their own delicate feelings. That 
selfishness vanishes out there. They become men. 
Is that brutalising? No indeed, it is just the re- 
verse. One becomes accustomed to death, for 
worse luck one sees so much of it. A poor dead 
body is not a thing to shudder at or be afraid of, 
but that does not mean that we become callous. 
We no longer look on death as such a terrible 
thing, nor on our puny selves as being so all-im- 
portant. Our sense of proportion becomes more 



238 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED H| 

true, and we are more likely to see ourselves as 
we really are, important only to our own im- 
mediate friends and relations. We become more 
humble and surely that is good for us. 

Some people say that because our men sing 
and joke while on their way to that scientific 
slaughter ground, the modern battlefield, that 
they have no religion, that they are materialists. 
They do not know the hearts of thes^ men, they 
have not seen them during their only tro brief 
leisure hours in the days before the battle go 
quietly into the little churches and silently oif er 
up their simple prayers. Is it for themselves they 
pray? I doubt it. No, it is for those at home, 
for wives and kiddies, and for mothers who are 
thinking of them so many miles away. There is 
more real religion out there near the line of bat- 
tle than is ever seen at home. It is not ostenta- j 
tion, but quiet, deep and beautifully sincere. 

Not long ago I met a young man, a civilian, 
who was filled with the desire to help others to be 
better. He was of the anaemic type in both body 
and mind. He lacked all experience in the great 
busy world that is doing things, and had never 
been two hundred miles from home. He came to 
me and asked my advice about an idea that he 
had. I was anxious to hear what his idea might 

I 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE 289 

be for the complete lack of expression in his face 
made me think that an idea and himself could 
scarcely be related. It turned out that he wanted 
to go to France to uplift the wicked soldiers. He 
was quite upset when I pointed out that those 
men out there were doing far more than he was. 
That they were following Christ's example in 
offering their lives for the good of others, ready 
at any moment to make the Supreme Sacrifice. 
That generally speaking they were living honest 
clean lives, on the average far better than civilians 
at home, and finally, that if he wanted to do 
missionary work he would find his field without 
going to France. 

Now why should people imagine that we poor 
soldiers are so much worse than any one else? 
Why should all sorts of laws be made to protect 
civilians from our evil influence as though we 
were moral lepers? We are even denied some of 
the privileges accorded to the slacker who stays 
at home and grows fat on his ill-gotten gains. 
We are actually punished because we are shoul- 
dering the burden of military service. This is 
very hard for us to understand. For when we see 
what the soldiers do, even though they are but 
temporary soldiers, who have given up civilian 
pursuits to "do their bit," one cannot help feel- 



240 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

ing that they are certainly no worse than those 
who stay at home, and that the effect of the war 
on them is refining rather than brutahsing. They 
will come out of it better men in every way, 
broader minded and more charitable and very 
much more sympathetic, besides having learned 
a great many things which will be of the utmost 
value to them in life. 

Details of what happened during our search 
for the wounded cannot be given. Sometimes 
the scenes were only too painfully pathetic and 
again they were sadly amusing, if that combina- 
tion can be imagined, but the less badly injured 
would often make such absurdly humorous re- 
marks that it was impossible not to laugh. One 
fellow had no less than three wounds — his right 
shoulder, his left hand, and his thigh. He had 
managed to wriggle into a shell hole for safety 
he said as he was "afraid of getting hit"; but 
once in the crater he could not get out. In de- 
scribing his predicament he said that never be- 
fore had he realised how hard it was to roll up 
hill. But that is not what bothered him, his 
trouble was that he could not get at his "fags" 
(cigarettes). They were in his pocket, but ow- 
ing to the hand and arm being injured he was 
unable to reach them. As the S.B. was binding 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE Ml 

his wounds preparatory to moving him he re- 
marked in most approved cockney *'Blime me, 
old chap, but if I ever catches that bounder 
what put that there last shot into my left 'and, 
I'm bio wed if I wouldn't jest knock 'is bloomin' 
blitherin' fice (face) in so that 'is own pot-bellied 
German father wouldn't recognise 'is lawful horf- 
spring. I wouldn't er minded t'other two 

blarsted pills, but me fags is all in me pocket, 

four packs o' blessed Woodbines what me com- 
pany hofficer gave me, and 'ere I been two mortal 
dies (days) and not a bloomin' smoke. Its a 
bleedin' shime I says, come on 'ere, like a good 
chap, and put two in me mouth to make up for 
lost time — that's the ticket, Oh Gawd but that's 
a bit of orl right (as the cigarettes were put in 
his mouth and lighted) 'ere 'ave one, or two. 
Th're just like kids and beer two's better'n one 
any toime. Ah 'old on a bit there (as they lifted 
him on to a stretcher) that old leg's napoo * its 
got ther toothache or somethin', jest pick her up 
by both ends." 

But the pain was more than he could stand in 
his weakened condition and he went off in a dead 
faint. The cigarettes were taken from his colour- 

*I. e., no good, "nothing doing" — derived (more or less) from the 
French II n'y en a plus. 



242 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

less lips, "pinched out," and tucked in orthodox 
fashion behind his ears, ready for him when he 
regained consciousness. I watched the poor fel- 
low being carried off and marvelled at his courage 
and spirits, not even a word of complaint at 
the long wait before help had come. 

Turning in the opposite direction I scanned 
the many motionless khaki figures which lay 
around me in such curious positions ; if one looked 
at them steadily they seemed to move, and sev- 
eral times I was about to start for one when I 
realised from its attitude that it was one of the 
Supreme Sacrifices. About a hundred yards 
away there was a patch of glowing scarlet pop- 
pies. They fascinated me, their cheerful colour 
in the field of death, as though nature laughed 
at our mourning. As I stared something moved 
very slightly, so slightly indeed that I thought I 
must be mistaken and I was about to move away, 
but an unknown power seemed to lead me for- 
ward to the poppies in spite of myself, and I 
made my way over the shell torn, body-strewn, 
ground. On arriving I found a badly wounded 
man, he was lying in the poppy patch and with 
one arm extended so that the hand was out in 
the open. What I had seen was the fingers mov- 
ing, but it had been enough, perhaps, to save the 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE 243 

man's life. The flowers so completely surrounded 
him that very likely he would never have been 
found, except perhaps by the burial party. 

So far the morning had been fairly quiet in 
this particular neighbourhood, very few shells 
having fallen in our immediate vicinity, though 
innumerable machine gun bullets sang through 
the air overhead, and in the distance toward 
Mametz Wood and Contalmaison there was the 
unceasing pounding of the big guns. Evidently 
the Germans were disputing every yard of our 
advance, but our men were pushing forward with 
splendid determination. It was gratifying to 
learn later that in no place had an enemy counter- 
attack been successful for more than a short time. 

As I was about to return to H.Q.* our Ro- 
man Catholic Padre passed me. He was on his 
way to where the greatest number of our men 
had fallen not far from the German front line 
of three days ago. Up to the moment there had 
been no time or opportunity for burying the 
dead, nor was there much chance that it would 
be done for some days to come,t and it appeared 
that our Brigade had just received orders to move 
back for reorganisation. Our good Padre could 

*Head Quarters. 

fit was actually about twelve days before the burying began. 



244 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

not bear to think that a strange priest would read 
the service over his "boys" as he called them. The 
boys he had lived with for over two years. How 
often he had scolded them for their little failings, 
and now so many lay before him — their ears deaf 
to the human voice, their great strong bodies stiff, 
cold and inert. He had loved them with a great 
devotion and many a one, torn and bleeding, had 
he carried off the field on his powerful shoulders 
utterly regardless of the passing bullets. He 
was a great man, admired by all who knew him^ 
whether Catholic or not. (I regret to say that 
some months later he was badly wounded while 
carrying a message under terrific fire, a task that 
he had voluntarily assumed.) On that battle- 
field of the Somme he stood, exposed to the shells 
which were coming in increasing number, and 
there silhouetted against the sky-line, I saw him 
read the burial service consigning the dead to 
eternal rest, not individually, but in hundreds, 
yes thousands. It was impressive in its simplicity 
and it touched the hearts of all who witnessed it. 
On returning to H.Q. I learned that we were 

to leave at eight o'clock and go to D 1 where 

we expected to entrain for a place far back from 
the scene of the great conflict. The news was 
welcome for we were tired out, a long rest was 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE 245 

needed and had certainly been well-earned by 
the men. 

In the afternoon I asked permission to go for- 
ward to see if I could find poor B 's (the 

Brigade Major) body and rescue if possible any 
of his belongings to send home to his family. His 
servant, who like every one else had been devoted 
to him, was completely broken down by the loss, 
and he begged permission to accompany me. He 
thought that between us we might bring back the 
body and have it properly buried. 

After some little trouble we succeeded in mak- 
ing our way across the ground between our old 
line and the sunken road. What a scene of deso- 
lation it presented! More utter and complete 
destruction could not be imagined. 'No sign of 
the original German trenches remained, and our 
men were busily engaged in digging new lines of 
communication and putting up barbed wire en- 
tanglements in anticipation of the inevitable 
counter-attacks. Beyond us lay Fricourt, or 
more properly what had been Fricourt, for it 
was now nothing but a mass of smouldering ruin ; 
not a wall was standing, the very bricks were 
broken into fragments. Where trees had stood, 
there remained only the torn and splintered 
stumps, but no words can describe the complete- 



246 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

ness of the ruin. The sunken road along which 
only a few days before the Germans had so con- 
fidently driven their supply carts and marched 
their men, was now more of shell-holes than road ; 
shattered limbers, waggons and guns, distorted 
remains of horses and men, were strewn in end- 
less confusion, while our men crouched into hast- 
ily constructed trenches along the road side and 
dodged the cursed shells. The enemy knew we 
should be using this road and he made us pay 
heavy toll. As we walked along, between the ex- 
treme bursts of hate, three men went ahead of 
us laughing and joking in the usual way. A 
single shell landed on the road just ahead of 
them. Two of the men spun round like tops 
and then fell dead. The third was not touched. 
"Close shave that," he remarked as we passed 
him. 

On the left side of the road there were two 
small patches of woods called the Dingle and 
Round Wood. These, before the big bombard- 
ment, had contained trees, but now scarcely even 
stumps remained, so thoroughly had they been 
shelled. Scattered thickly among the connect- 
ing shell holes were great numbers of bodies, 
both German and British. Among the dead 
were some wounded, very few, because the con- 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE ^47 

stant fire, both before and after our men had 
captured the ground, had finished off nearly all 
who had fallen. During the advance probably 
hundreds of our fellows had crept or rushed over 
this piece of territory in trying to reach the com- 
parative shelter afforded by the eastern bank 
of the Sunken Road, but somewhere in Round 
Wood lay a German sniper, a man of great 
courage and persistence, who felt it his particular 
duty to pick off any man, or more particularly, 
officer, who came along the road. 

He made our progress most uneven and diffi- 
cult. I might say hazardous, for he was not 
much over a hundred yards away and so it was 
easy for him to send bullets unpleasantly close 
to our heads ; only by going forward by bounds 
and zig-zags could we hope to avoid hitting those 
persistent bullets. Judging from the somewhat 
erratic shooting of our friend I should say he 
was wounded, and not in a very comfortable 
position, at least not in position really favourable 
for good marksmanship, but still I could not help 
admiring the fellow's pluck. Evidently he had 
pretended to be dead when our men were any- 
where near him, and then when opportunity of- 
fered he had probably shot them in the back. To 
have got the man would have been very desirable, 



248 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

but to distinguish him among the mass of figures 
would be by no means an easy task. Only by very 
careful stalking, which would require a lot 
of time, would there have been any chance of 
getting him, and we were in a hurry; already 
more than half of my allotted time had passed, 
so we hurried forward, dodging trouble until at 
length we discovered the body of our friend. 

Of course he was dead. That I had expected, 
but he had been stripped of everything of value, 
watch, glasses and all. This was a sad meeting 
of the living and the dead and I could not help 
thinking of the idiotic remarks one so often hears 
by the jealous and the armchair critics regard- 
ing the "Staff." That they stick in safe places 
and do nothing but make mistakes, and never 
take the risks they arrange for others. How sick 
it makes one to hear the drivel of such fools. 

Perhaps we in our Division were unusually 
fortunate but certainly our Staff never shirked 
any job because it was dangerous, on the con- 
trary they might invariably be found in the places 
where there was the greatest possible danger. 
When the attack began where was the Brigade 
Headquarters, back in the zone of safety? Not 
much, it was within a biscuit throw of the actual 
front line trench and the Brigadier did not hide 



THE TOLL OF BATTLE 249 

in a safe trench and get reports of what was 
going on. He stood on the top of the parapet, 
and saw with his own eyes what was happening, 
taking no notice whatever of the hail of bullets 

that passed him, and here was poor B , he had 

gone forward of any of our positions, and given 
his splendid life, doing even more than his duty. 
We could not carry the body back, to have done 
so would have been suicide, but I enclosed in a 
bottle where it would be safe from rain, a paper 
giving his rank, name and unit, with the instruc- 
tions that his grave should not be unmarked, and 
so we left him and made our way back to H.Q. 
in time to attend to various duties incidental to 
our departure. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Rest — and Return to the "Show" 

At eight o'clock we left, tired through and 
through and looking forward to the quiet of the 
land-of -no-guns. Through lack of sleep and 
the continued strain my nerves were in a very- 
ragged state. This led me to do something for 
which I felt most deeply ashamed. As we walked 
over the open shell- torn ground, occasional bul- 
lets flew past us, most of them a long way oif , 
but one came perhaps thirty or forty feet over 
my head and I ducked. The act was almost un- 
conscious, and no one knows the mortification I 
experienced when the Brigadier, who was only a 
few yards behind me, laughed and said, "You're 
slow, Dugmore; that bullet had passed long be- 
fore you ducked." I wished at the time that 
another bullet would come and bestow on me the 
order of the R.I.P. 

It was a forlorn looking lot that made their 

way to D 1. Yet though battle weary, dirty 

and footsore, the men wore an air of keen satis- 

250 



REST— AND RETURN TO THE "SHOW" 251 

faction. They had been tried, and they had not 
been found wanting. The work had been al- 
lotted, and they had done all that flesh and 
blood could do, and now before them was rest, 
wonderful rest in a peaceful part of the country, 
miles and miles from the front. It was some- 
thing to which they could look forward with 
pleasure. Occasionally as they marched they 
would look back, and seeing the ruddy glow of 
shell-fire in the darkening sky they made pity- 
ing remarks on the hard luck of the "poor blight- 
ers" who were still in the fight. 

Shortly after eleven our camping site was 
reached. It was a bare open field. The camp 
cookers for all the four Battalions were lined up 
ready with good hot food for all hands, delicious 
solid food and steaming hot tea. What a meal 
that was! and the supply was more than abun- 
dant, for our ranks were sadly thinned. Scarcely 
was the meal eaten than great drops of rain 
splashed down from the overcast sky, but no 
one cared. The men were fed, and they did not 
have to fight ; what more could they ask ? Within 
a few minutes the ground was covered with lines 
of men rolled in their waterproof ground sheets, 
sleeping the sleep of complete exhaustion, while 
the rain fell in torrents. That we had no pil- 



252 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

lows or mattresses or tents made no difference, 
all that was wanted was the chance to sleep and 
forget. Yes above all Forget. 

At four o'clock the bugle sounded, and men 
stretched and yawned, and cursed the disturbing 
call. It was not yet daylight, but the rain had 
stopped, and it did not seem as though they had 
been asleep more than a few minutes. Some of 
us washed, a few shaved, and all had breakfast. 
Then came the long wait for the train. It was due 
to come for us at six, but not until nine o'clock 
did we start. The long time had been spent in 
trying to find out news of our different friends 
whose faces did not appear in the lines, but most 
of the information received was unreliable. In 
the excitement and confusion of a big advance 
very little is seen, and very much is imagined. 
Even the roll-call did not give a very accurate 
idea of our losses for men might yet turn up. 
Many become separated from their units and do 
not turn up for days and even weeks. All that 
we knew for certain was that the Brigade had 
suffered very heavily, how heavily we scarcely 
dared think. 

By slow stages we travelled all day, the train 
taking us to within a few miles of our preliminary 
destination. Here we were to tidy up and await 



REST— AND RETURN TO THE "SHOW" 253 

the General's inspection. There was no more 
scouting work to do for the present and as my 
old Battalion had lost nearly all of its officers, 
including the Colonel, I went back to it as second 
in command until it was settled whether our 
Major was to be given command, or whether a 
new Colonel would be appointed. Needless to 
say we were anxious to get our men in shape for 
the General who was due on the 6th, so all our 
spare time was devoted to cleaning up. 

On the morning of the 6th we marched to a 
fine old country place which was loaned for the 
occasion. The grounds at first glance seemed ab- 
surdly small, and I was beginning to wonder how 
it would be possible to arrange the four Battal- 
ions when the sad fact dawned on me that we no 
longer required a large space. After a slight de- 
lay we adjusted ourselves to the new conditions 
and the poor old Brigade was drawn up. How it 
had dwindled ! In the old days we had made such 
a fine showing with our four thousand men, and 
now, more than half of them had failed to re- 
spond when their names were called. On the 
General's arrival we formed into a square and 
listened to the words of thanks for what had 
been done. I had often heard or read of what a 
first inspection after a battle means but never 



254< WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

had I realised what a painful experience it could 
be. Men swallowed hard and avoided each 
other's eyes for many of the eyes were moist. 

That same night word came that we would 

move the following morning to Le M e a short 

day's march and once there we would receive our 
reinforcements and spend a month or six weeks 
getting into shape. This sounded delightful, but 
like most cheerful promises it did not come true. 

On arriving at our new quarters we were de- 
lighted to find a peaceful little country hamlet in 
the midst of a beautiful country. A perfect 
place in which to recuperate. The billets were 
quite good, and we settled down to make our- 
selves as comfortable as possible, and amused 
ourselves reading accounts of the Battle of the 
Somme as they appeared in the newspapers. 

Having read the various stories we came to the 
conclusion quite unanimously that we had not 
taken part in the "Show," had not even been 
there — and further we doubted if there had been 
anything more than a series of skirmishes, just a 
slight variety to the ordinary daily monotony of 
trench warfare. Our conceit was taken out of us 
and we felt exceedingly humble. 

The day of the 8th was given up to rest and 
getting everything arranged. The following 



REST— AND RETURN TO THE "SHOW" 265 

morning there was to be an inspection of kit and 
drawing of whatever was necessary to make up 
the inevitable deficiencies, for in battle much is 
lost. In the afternoon we were notified that a 
new Colonel was coming, and late that evening 
he arrived. This meant of course that I would 
no longer be second in command, so much to 
my delight it was arranged that I should take 
my old company or rather what was left of it. 

Things happen quickly out in France, and the 
next afternoon the Colonel announced that we 
were to return to the front the following morn- 
ing. The order was in the form of a letter, the 
purport of which was that as the Brigade had 
done so splendidly The Higher Command felt 
that it was only due to it (the Brigade) that an- 
other opportunity for distinguishing itself should 
he given and the said Higher Command felt com- 
plete confidence in the work that the Brigade 
would dOj etc., etc. This we had to read out to 
the men. It caused a sad and cynical smile and I 
fear that all of us felt somewhat rebellious and 
greatly disappointed. It did not seem fair to the 
men, they needed a rest, and then we had lost all 
our sergeant-majors and most of our sergeants 
the entire internal organisation had to be read- 
justed. We had scarcely any officers and they 








PART OF MAP TAKEN FROM A DEAD GERMAN OFFICER 
DURING THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME 

This section is reproduced so that the difference between the 
German and British maps [see pag- 176] may be clearly shown. 
This German map is printed entirely in black, the British map 
in color. 



I 



REST— AND RETURN TO THE "SHOW" «67 

drafts. Men of many different regiments, some 
had been in the attack of July 1st, others were 
new arrivals who had not seen a trench, and it 
was a merry task sorting and arranging the lot. 
In fact the day was one of the busiest I have ever 
seen, rolls had to be made up, gas helmets tested, 
kits inspected, deficiencies made good, iron ra- 
tions issued,* new N.C.O.s appointed and a 
thousand and one things to be done. Some new 
officers having come to add to the confusion, they 
had to be sized up and allotted to companies. It 
was midnight before we were able to get a chance 
to sleep and the orders were that we should pro- 
ceed to Bottom Wood, beyond Fricourt the fol- 
lowing morning. 

Any old soldier would have been amused had 
he seen us getting ready to move. The battalion 
had to be drawn up and roughly inspected, and 
owing to the restricted area it was necessary to 
move the companies about more or less. Being 
a Light Infantry regiment we have many pecu- 
larities as to drill and orders. One item being 
that the men are not called to attention and given 
the ''slope 'urns'' preparatory to moving, we sim- 
ply say "move to the right (or left) in fours. 
Form fours — right" and off they go, springing 

* Emergency rations, not to be used except by oflScer's order* 



^58 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

to attention automatically as the first part of 
the move and marching off at the *'trail." Fully 
half of our new men knew nothing of our Light 
Infantry idiosyncrasies, and were completely lost. 
The idea of being expected to move without being 
called to attention or given the "slope" was too, 
much for them. The result was one grand and 
very glorious confusion, for which no one wai| 
to blame. At first our Colonel, who was a reg- 
ular from a Highland Light Infantry regiment, 
and a splendid fellow, accustomed to having 
things done strictly according to rules and regu- 
lations, gazed with indignation and rapidly rising^ 
temper at the horrible muddle. A word whis 
pared in his ear at the critical moment explaine 
the situation and discipline or no discipline there 
was a suppressed giggle before the mongrel Bat-^ 
talion finally got under way with more or less^ 
uniformity of action. 

Our march to Bottom Wood was decidedly 
interesting but slow, owing to the enormous 
amount of traffic on the road. There are few 
things that give a better idea of the magnitude 
of modern war than the road traflftc, the never 
ceasing stream of moving war supplies. For the 
24 hours of each day, the seven days of each week 
it goes on like the driving belt of a monster ma- 



■ii 



REST— AND RETURN TO THE "SHOW" 259 

chine, — the belt that operates this colossal in- 
strument of war. Needless to say the handling 
of this vast mass of moving material requires the 
most perfect organisation. Not only must the 
? starting of each item be regulated with absolute 
' precision, but its destination, even in the midst 
1 of a battle where the elements of uncertainty are 
' so great, must be equally well planned. And 
' then the roads themselves which are subject to the 
' terrific wear and tear as well as the destruction 
\ by shells must be maintained in perfect condi- 
' tion, repairs being made with the least possible 
' delay. To insure smooth working of the whole 
' traffic system members of the military traffic 
1 squad are stationed at intervals along the roads 
1 and at the crossings- to see that everything shall 

!move according to plan. 
Passing us there was every type of convey- 
j ance, from giant, indomitable caterpillar tractors, 
' to hand carts — carrying every imaginable article 
1 used in this modern warfare, from huge shells 
' that looked big enough to wipe out the whole 
I German army, to bales of innocent hay for the 
] horses. Sandwiched in between these various 
transports were units of every branch of the serv- 
ice, artillery, cavalry and poor weary "foot slog- 
gers" as we infantry are called. 



260 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

This great endless caravan, carrying forward 
its unmeasurable weight of man and material 
with slow resistless power, was a sight to inspire, 
and it gave fresh courage and hope to the tired 
men. Against this moving mass, returning from 
the land of shells and horrors, were the "emp- 
ties" going back to be refilled, for the maw of bat- 
tle is never satisfied, never filled; and then there 
were the endless ambulances bearing in their cov- 
ered bodies the price of our victories, and our men 
looked with envy on the pale bandaged figures 
who were bound for the wonderful hospitals 
where all that human kindness can do is done, 
where men learn to understand and appreciate 
women, those women who bear the blessed symbol 
of the Cross of Red and devote their energies and 
their great sympathies to the merciful work of 
heahng. It is scarcely to be wondered at that 
our men were envious of these "Blighties." 

On either side of the road the fields were massed 
with men and material, and one could not help 
thinking of the change that a few days had made. 
Less than two weeks ago this was a shell-swept 
area, and now it was a huge encampment. As 
we continued the changes were still more notice- 
able, and still more satisfactory. For as we en- 
tered Fricourt we passed what remained of the 



REST— AND RETURN TO THE "SHOW" 261 

railway station in which stood the riddled and 
wrecked remnants of the last train that had 
moved over that line almost two years ago, and 
now our engineers were clearing the line and mak- 
ing ready to relay the tracks for the trains which 
would very soon be running into the station. And 
Fricourt itself! What a scene it presented not 
only of destruction but construction. Already 
the main road had been cleared of debris and re- 
paired sufficiently to allow of its being used. 
Dugouts were made habitable and wire entan- 
glements erected for defensive purposes. The 
w^hole place was seething with activity, and it did 
one good to think that never again would the 
Germans set foot in the village they had occupied 
for so long. No one knew what a satisfaction it 
was to us to note all these things and to realise 
that our men had played so large a part in bring- 
ing about this great change.* 

The sight of this evidence of our gains had a 
wonderful effect on the spirits of our men, and 
they went forward with a new spring in their 
step. On we went keeping to the right of Fri- 
court Wood and continued till we reached Bot- 
tom Wood where the Battalion was distributed 
according to plan. My company held the line on 

* Alas Fricourt has recently been retaken by the Germans. 



262 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

the north eastern edge of the wood and a rough 
piece of trench it was, much of it had been com- 
pletely destroyed by shells and the whole place 
was littered with all sorts of war material, rifles, 
bombs, clothing, accoutrement of all kind, food 
and so forth, most of which was German. 

Fortunately there were not very many bodies 
lying about. Of course the few we found had to 
be buried without delay as they had been there 
many days. While some of the men were en- 
gaged in this unpleasant task the others were set 
to consolidating the trench, and clearing the parts 
that had fallen in. This also proved far from 
agreeable as many naked bodies were unearthed. 
The Germans with their high degree of efficiency 
and lack of sentiment remove everything from 
their dead. So the finding of these bodies was 
gruesome, to express it in mildest terms. 

For three days we occupied the line, and they 
were three days of misery as the enemy kept up 
a regular rain of lachrymatory gas shells so that 
every crater was a reservoir of the vile stuff and 
the very gi'ound itself was impregnated with it. 
The result was that we were in a constant state 
of crying, for the gas, so well named "tear gas" 
causes intense inflammation of the eyes as well 
as to the membrane of the throat and nose. For- 



REST— AND RETURN TO THE "SHOW" 263 

tunately it is not deadly, but it makes life a 
miserable burden and results in a great loathing 
for the very name of a German. For a short 
time the goggles with which we are furnished, 
act as a protection, but it is not long before the 
gas gets through and attacks the eyes. 

During our spare time, when things were quiet, 
we collected and sorted all material that had any 
value, so that when the salvage company came 
it could be easily handled. 



CHAPTER XV 

A Hot Corner — Gassed 

On the evening of the 14th we received the 
orders, for which we had been waiting, rumour, 
that unreliable source of trouble, had said that 
after all we should not be needed and so we half 
expected to return to finish our disturbed rest. 
But no such luck! Our orders were to move for- 
ward at six the following morning to a given 
point at the south east corner of Mametz Wood, 
where we should find the rest of the Brigade, and 
further instruction would be sent later. 

On the morning of the 15th I assembled my 
company preparatory to moving, while going 
over the line to see that everything was left in 
proper order and that my ex-German dugout 
contained nothing in the way of papers. I heard 
a shell making its way toward me with entirely 
unnecessary speed. Frankly I thought it was 
going to hit me, but no, it fell some thirty yards 
or so directly in front, I crouched low, expect- 
ing it to burst, but instead of the orthodox deaf- 

264 



A HOT CORNER— GASSED 265 

ening roar, there was only a mild puff. Dud, 
thought I, and thanked the careless person who 
had presumably made some mistake in the shell's 
makeup. I was premature in the congratulations 
and thanks, for apparently the shell contained 
phosgene gas, which up to then was entirely new 
to us. Owing to the pollution of the air by the 
omnipresent pineapple-smelling tear gas, I could 
not detect the odour of the new poison, and the 
thick fog which prevailed at the time prevented 
the gas from spreading freely. 

This probably saved me from a bad dose, and 
at the time beyond an increased irritation of 
the throat and a disagreeable shortness of breath 
I did not feel the effects. 

As we were about to start, a Battalion of one 
of the Scottish regiments passed us ; as they dis- 
appeared into the fog with their kilts swinging to 
their long slow strides, I could not help thinking 
what a fine body of men they were. The kilts 
make them appear abnormally tall and sturdy. 
As soon as they had cleared us we moved toward 
the sound of the guns; at first we had to trust 
to the compass for our direction, but gradually 
the fog lifted and as we reached what was known 
with such good reason as Death's Valley Road, a 
large body of troops came along. I halted my 



266 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

company and waited for the column to pass, 
since we were well ahead of time. Scarcely had 
it gone a hundred yards clear of us than we 
heard the dreaded hum of a huge shell coming 
and an instant later a deafening roar as it ex- 
ploded. The result was a ghastly sight, for it 
had landed right in the centre of the forward 
company of that Battalion and practically wiped 
it out. Had we gone ahead, as we might so easily 
have done, the catastrophe would have fallen on 
us, and my company would never have reported 
itself "present" at the rendezvous. 

The scene around the outskirts and edge of 
Mametz Wood was simply indescribable. The 
whole place was literally carpeted with bodies, 
the enemy having put up an especially vigorous 
resistance in the attempt to hold the Wood. Con- 
sidering that he was most thoroughly entrenched, 
and had the protection of the woods, it struck me 
as marvellous that our men had succeeded in 
winning. 

They had had to rush over a wide stretch of 
absolutely open country without a particle of 
shelter except what was afforded by the shell 
holes, and it was uphill all the way from the 
road. What terrible execution they wrought 
among the enemy was very evident for the 



A HOT CORNER— GASSED 267 

trenches were in many places piled three and four 
deep with bodies. 

In the centre of this scene of carnage was 
our rendezvous. Owing to the fog two of the 
companies had lost their way, and we were de- 
layed for an hour or more but eventually "all 
present" was reported and after eating a light 
lunch in this gruesome setting we moved for- 
ward once more. Our orders were to proceed 
to Bazentin-le-Petit and take up a position in 
front of the village at a given place. The Ger- 
mans had very recently been driven out of the 
village and were attacking it in considerable 
force, so it looked as though we were in for some 
fun. 

In less than an hour we reached the lower cor- 
ner of Bazentin-le-Petit Wood and there rested 
for ten minutes. Our position gave us a splendid 
view of the village we were to hold. It also gave 
us a view which was by no means splendid of 
a very fine assortment of shells, large venomous 
ones, bursting incessantly all over the said vil- 
lage; evidently the Hun did not propose that we 
should occupy the place with any undue degree 
of comfort. "Marked activity" might be the de- 
scription of the enemy's attitude. From every 
direction came the roar of shells and the spiteful 



268 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

crackling of machine guns. The whole air vi- 
brated with the ceaseless noise. It was a beau- 
tiful Summer day completely spoilt. We made 
our way up the steep hill by way of the road 
that skirts the Eastern side of the wood and 
leads to the village, and I confess it looked as 
though we were walking straight into the jaws of 
death. Surely no one could come out of such an 
infernal bombardment. 

By good luck we reached the village without a 
casualty and made our way along the shattered 
main street which ran through the ruined mass of 
buildings. On our left was the poor little church 
with only one small piece of wall standing, and 
on that, in a niche stood a statue of the Virgin 
with hands extended as though in welcome to us. 

We halted just beyond the church while the 
Colonel and Adjutant went ahead to see about 
the position which had been assigned to us in the 
apple orchard. As a quartet of large shells burst 
rather too close, sending bricks and earth hurtling 
through the air, the order was given to take what 
cover was available. The best protection to be 
found was in shell holes. There was an abun- 
dant supply of these, and more were being made 
every minute. Here and there a ruined house 
or cellar would offer some inducement, but 



A HOT CORNER— GASSED 269 

though this aiForded protection against pieces of 
flying metal or bricks, it also afforded a most 
excellent opportunity for inexpensive and very 
expeditious burial. 

It was not long before the Colonel returned 
with information of a most unsatisfactory na- 
ture. The position allotted to us was so crowded 
with men that not another one could be crowded 
in. This meant that for the present at least we 
must remain where we were. As a health re- 
sort the place could by no stretch of the imagina- 
tion be considered a success, and we all sincerely 
hoped our term of occupation would be short. 

The Colonel, second in command, and Adju- 
tant were in a nice shell hole on the side of the 
main street, I with about fifteen men occupied 
the adjoining one. In front of us was a bank of 
earth some ten feet high. About us the rest of 
the battalion were crouching in all sorts of places, 
but the shell holes were I think the most popular. 
Frequent moves became necessarj^ as the enemy 
picked out certain spots for his kindly attentions 
and the moves were made with extraordinary 
speed. 

The number of shells that entered the ruined 
village was appalling, and the incessant roar ab- 
solutely deafening. Every now and then the ex- 



270 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

plosions would send masses of earth and debris 
among us, while great pieces of metal shrieked 
past in a most disconcerting way. Under such 
conditions it seemed impossible that we could 
escape destruction and I do not believe any one 
of us expected to see another day. Names and 
addresses of wives or mothers were written on 
scraps of paper and passed from one to another 
with the simple request: "If I get scuppered send 
a line to this address, you know what to say." 
* 'Right oh! you might do the same for me like 
a good chap." That was all, no one seemed as- 
tonished or excited at the predicament we were 
in. It was part of the game and perhaps the 
worst part because at the present time we were 
not able to hit back. 

Occasionally a groan showed that some fellow 
had been hit, and the others in the shell hole would 
crouch a little lower. Our INIajor who was sit- 
ting next to me was hit twice on his "tin hat" 
but neither time did the metal go through the 
tough steel. Had he not been wearing that hat 
he would most certainly have been killed. Then 
a third piece struck the hat, a tiny splinter of hard 
metal, it penetrated and cut a long furrow the 
entire length of his head, fortunately not break- 
ing the skull. A few minutes later a large shell 



A HOT CORNER— GASSED 271 

burst on the opposite side of the street and the 
Adjutant leaned back, stone dead. I could 

scarcely believe that poor S was gone. He 

was such a good chap ! Of our old lot that had 
trained together in England except myself, and I 
was fast becoming useless owing to the effect of 
the gas which was getting in its deadly work and 
causing me very great pain, there was now only 
one unwounded officer left. 

The long strain and the many casualties, to say 
nothing of the frequent partial buryings, were 
beginning to tell on the men, and the Colonel 
thought it advisable to calm them. Before we 
realised what he was doing he was out of the shell 
hole and on the bullet-swept street. With the 
utmost calmness he took out a cigarette from his 
case, lit it, and walked up and down the pave 
smoking away as though he were on Pall Mall. 
Why he was not killed the good Lord only knows. 
By all the laws of chance he should have been 
riddled, but no, the cigarette finished, he rejoined 
us in the hole and had the satisfaction of observ- 
ing that the men had quieted down. It was a 
splendidly brave thing to do. Later he acknowl- 
edged that he had been "in a deuce of a funk." 

This incident shows something of the relation- 
ship between the men and the officers in our army. 



272 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

It is the officers' duty to understand the psy- 
chology of the men, to know when to give orders 
and when to get things done by setting an ex- 
ample. When to be harsh, when to be lenient. 
In other words he must know men and in partic- 
ular those under his own command, know them 
individually, their personal peculiarities, their 
weak points and their strong points, and he must 
make the men respect him while he in turn re- 
spects them. Here lies the chief difference be- 
tween our army and the Germans. They drive 
their men, we lead ours not only into battle but 
in other things. People laugh at us for our pe- 
culiar habit of going over the top carrying walk- 
ing sticks. This has a moral effect that cannot 
be overestimated. To those who question it, there 
is this answer : the men follow. 

It is very different from the German method. 
The officer goes behind his men. He is in the 
safer position, and the very idea of an officer being 
safer than his men is abhorrent to us and con- 
trary to all our traditions. The question of the 
officers' personal relations with the men is always 
interesting but very difficult to define. The line 
between fellowship and familiarity is most sharp- 
ly drawn, even under the strain of life at the fight- 
ing front it seldom breaks down; this is due chief- 




A TANK CRUSHING DOWN BARBKD WIRE ENTANGLEMENTS 
Few obstructions will stop the progress of these mighty engines 
of modern warfare. 



I 



A HOT CORNER— GASSED 273 

ly to our mutual respect. We know that the men 
will do anything they are told to do and endure 
the utmost hardships without complaint. They 
in turn know that the officer will never ask them 
to take unnecessary risks and will always con- 
sider their welfare before his own. 

After a long march when all are equally tired 
(the officers carry full equipment except rifle and 
cartridges, but have other things in their place) 
when the officer is, perhaps even more tired as 
he has the strain of the responsibility in addition 
to the physical fatigue. He must not think of 
attendmg to his own comforts until he has seen 
that the men are properly cared for. This often 
requires many hours of work and much walking 
when he would much rather be resting. 

As time went on things instead of getting bet- 
ter grew steadily worse. If we remained much 
longer there would be no battalion to take away. 
So after a brief consultation the Colonel decided 
to go out ahead with the Major, w^ho was feeling 
very groggy, while I was to take the men out 
of the village to a place of comparative safety 
near the Wood. It was necessary to proceed slow- 
ly, as any quick movement would have looked like 
a panic, and so, perhaps, have started trouble. 
But to march out slowly under such heavy shell 



274 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

fire was not quite as easy as it sounds. Three 
of the companies got out more or less intact. Then 
a large tree was struck by a shell and fell across 
the roadway and held up the last company which 
was in charge of young W . The brief de- 
lay was fatal, for a big shell landed in the midst 
of the company and caused a terrible number of 

casualties, among them poor W . He and 

I had been platoon commanders together in Eng- 
land and I felt his death very keenly, his extraor- 
dinary coolness and courage had earned the high- 
est admiration from all who knew him. 

The Brigadier on hearing the C.O.'s account 
told us to take up a position near the main road 
in Death's Valley and hold ourselves in readiness 
to move forward at a moment's notice to the ridge 
alongside of the village we had just left, as there 
was a good deal happening up there, and rein- 
forcements might be needed very soon. The val- 
ley in which we were to wait was being shelled 
pretty freely, so the men were ordered to dig in. 

Now if there is one order which never has to be 
repeated it is "Dig in." In an incredibly short 
time the red clay ground was honey-combed with 
holes big enough to hold one or two men. Those 
holes are most comfortable things and give one 
a feeling of safety if not of luxury. Of course 



A HOT CORNER— OASSED 275 

they cannot be depended on to protect you if a 
shell, whether it be large or small, insists on shar- 
ing the hole, it is then quite time to look for "a 
'oetter 'ole." The Colonel insisted on appointing 
me Adjutant, a post I have never wanted to fill, 
but there was no help for it and I had to accept. 
In fact I was feeling too ill to care much what I 
was or did. The gas was getting in its deadly 
work. My career during the past ten days had 
been one of many changes. Brigade Scout and 
Intelligence Officer, Second in Command. Com- 
pany Commander and Adjutant, and all this time 
my official rank (and pay) was that of Lieuten- 
ant. 

In the course of the afternoon we were ordered 
to send a company into Bazentin-le-Petit in order 
to capture or destroy some enemy machine guns 
that had been playing havoc. It was a nasty un- 
dertaking, but young A , a mere boy of 19 

years, made a satisfactory- job of it and returned 
without having had any casualties. While we lay 
in our various earthly grave-like receptacles 
watching the continued bombarding of Bazentin- 
le-Petit and thanking our stars that we were not 
in that death trap, we were interested in seeing 

the cavalrj' passing along the road. They 

had been at Delville Wood, or as Tommy calls it 



^76 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

*'Devil Wood." As they rode along, the Ger- 
mans, evidently knowing the route they would 
take and their approximate pace, followed them 
with shells all the way down, almost as far as 
Fricourt, but as good luck would have it they al- 
ways overshot the mark by seventy-five or a hun- 
dred yards. Just like the Germans, if they do a 
thing wrong they keep on doing it wrong, think- 
ing that because they do it, it must be right. Their 
first range had been wrong by a certain amount, 
and the error had continued as long as they fol- 
lowed the road. We were not sorry to see the 
last of these horsemen as they had been the inno- 
cent cause of a number of shells dropping in our 
particular neighbourhood. 

Late that evening things quieted down. The 
Hun had had enough, and was content to leave 
us in possession of all we had acquired, and as 
our Battalion were not likely to be needed we re- 
ceived the welcome orders to return to Bottom 
Wood, and so, wearily, and sadly depleted in 
numbers, we retraced our steps to our starting 
point of the morning. During our absence the 
woods and small valley beyond had been heavily 
strafed, but comparative quiet now reigned, and 
we were glad to be back, not even objecting to 
the filthy tear gas which filled the air. For my 



A HOT CORNER— GASSED 277 

own part I could not have kept going any longer. 
The gas was affecting my lungs and heart and an 
incessant cough racked me so that I could scarce- 
ly lie down. The stuffy gas-laden air of the dug- 
out made things worse, and never do I remember 
having spent a more miserable night. As Adju- 
tant it was important that I attended to certain 
duties the following morning, but I fear that my 
reports were somewhat incoherent. 

About noon orders came for us to move for- 
ward that night to take part in an attack. The 
doctor having forbidden my going, there was 
nothing for it but to make my way back to the 
hospital, which I proceeded to do as soon as I 
had attended to the Battalion's rations, and hand- 
ed over the Adjutancy to one of the new officers. 

That trip back to M e was a nightmare. At 

first I tried to ride, but the horse loaned to me 
was a big powerful high-spirited animal; every 
time a gun fired, and it seemed as though the 
whole country was nothing but guns, the beast 
reared and made himself generally objectionable. 
After half an hour of this agony, as I was almost 
blinded with pain, I handed the horse over to one 
of the ration party and made the rest of the way 
on foot. The distance was only about three or 
four miles but it took me hours to do it. In vain 



278 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

did I examine each ambulance that passed, but 
they were crowded to the limit of their capacity 
with men in far worse condition than I was, for 
the past two days had been costly. 

Occasionally along the road I came across 
others like myself, who were not considered bad 
enough for ambulances, and they hobbled along 
in every condition of body, some slightly and 
some quite badly wounded, some could only go 
a few steps between halts, others moved along 
almost gaily with broken arms or flesh wounds 
which did not prevent their walking. The great 
thing is to get to a hospital as soon as possible, 
have the wounds dressed and then on to 
"Blighty.- 

It was very late when I finally reached the 
hospital and there learned after examination that 
I had been gassed, and that I should not have 
taken a step since receiving the poison the day 
before. 

Having been duly labelled and laid on a 
stretcher, I was put in a large ambulance and 

taken to H y where there was a very large 

clearing hospital composed of innumerable tents. 
Never so long as I live shall I forget the feel- 
ing of contentment that followed the washing 
and careful kindly treatment given to me by those 



A HOT CORNER— GASSED 279 

splendid nurses, and the nice comfortable bed, 
with its sweet clean sheets. It was Heaven, and 
the nurses were the angels. It was worth all the 
horrors of the past days, and what those horrors 
were I have scarcely suggested as they would 
not make good reading. Even though sleep was 
impossible, I enjoyed lying there, quite satis- 
fied that I did not have to move, that no one 
expected me to do anything, that there was no 
insistent telephone giving unwelcome orders, and 
best of all that there were no shells and no gas. 
In my semi-stupefied condition it mattered not 
to me that in the cots around me men were dying. 
At least their last minutes were made as pain- 
less and comfortable as possible, poor fellows, 
for them the war was over, they had given their 
all, and they could face their Maker with the 
knowledge that they had done their full duty. 
The following evening I was taken to the train. 
Things are rather vague in my mind regarding 
the next few hours, dimly I recall the wonderful 
hospital train where everything that can be done 
for the comfort of the wounded is so faithfully 
done by those who serve under the Red Cross. 

My destination was Rouen, one of those splen- 
did hospitals where the same kindness and effi- 
ciency are so noticeable. Owing to the urgency 



280 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

of keeping hospitals in France as clear as pos- 
sible for bad cases that cannot bear travelling, all 
who can be moved are sent to England, and I was 
very happy w^hen one morning a few days later 
the nurse came in, accompanied by stretcher 
bearers, and informed me that I was to go to 
''Blighty." 

How or by what route I was going did not 
interest me, it was sufficient that I would soon 
be HOME. To my surprise the ambulance 
took me down to the river; and alongside of the 
landing was a beautiful white steamer with a 
broad green band and a very large Red Cross 
painted on the side, the markings of a hospital 
ship, supposed to protect it against attack, but 
the German disregards that law as he does so 
many others. On to this steamer I was carried, 
and within an hour we started down that wonder- 
ful quiet river. What a day that was, glorious 
mid-summer weather and England only a few 
hours away! Life was worth while after all. 



CHAPTER XVI 

The Pivot 

It turned out that my days at the front were 
finished, that I was considered unfit for further 
active service so far as the trenches were con- 
cerned. In some ways I regret that fact, for 
with all the horrors, all the hardships, there is a 
fascination about the life over there that cannot 
be described. Not for all the money on earth 
would I have missed the experience of those days. 
Many things were taught, but none more thor- 
oughly than the admiration for Tommy Atkins. 
He is a man through and through. He grumbles 
and he growls, especially when things are going 
too well, but he does his job. 

It is hard luck not being in the active part of 
the "show" until the end, but unfortunately that 
has been the fate of so many and we who are alive 
and free from serious mutilation are among the 
lucky ones, notwithstanding the fact that we are 
out of the fight itself. We can look back at 
the Battle of the Somme with a great satisfac- 

281 



282 WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

tion, for even though we were unable to go for- 
ward as far as it was hoped we might, we dem- 
onstrated beyond any doubt the efficiency of 
our new army. We showed the Germans that 
even with the training of a year or so our men 
were a match for their highly trained, machine- 
made soldiers. 

Germany, when she selected the Somme region 
for her great strategic line of resistance (after 
being forced back from her drive to Paris) had 
done all that human ingenuity could do to render 
her line impregnable. It was called a trench sys- 
tem but more correctly speaking it was a system 
of underground and ground-level forts, with re- 
inforced concrete construction at the vital points, 
subterranean passages and immense assembly 
dugouts, barbed wire entanglements on a scale 
never before attempted, guns and machine guns 
in numbers hitherto unknown. Nothing had been 
left to chance. 

But in spite of all these gigantic prepara- 
tions and precautions, our long months of seem- 
ing inertia, during which we were quietly mak- 
ing ready, Germany's armies were forced to re- 
tire before the advance of our men, forced to 
relinquish line after line, to acknowledge at last 
that we were not only their equals but their su- 



THE PIVOT 283 

periors in the game of fighting. Germany had 
praj^ed for Der Tag and she got it on July 1st, 
1916, though not in the way she expected it, for 
on that memorable day we started to win — to 
break the power of the greatest military organisa- 
tion that the world has ever known. It was the 
pivotal day of the war. As we look back and see 
how from the beginning of the Battle of the 
Somme our armies have forged ahead in 
France, at the thousands of square miles of ter- 
ritory the invaders have been forced to abandon, 
at the hundreds of villages returned to France, 
some mere masses of ruin, others more or less 
intact, at the thousands of prisoners we have cap- 
tured, and find that with one shght exception all 
our gains have been held, we feel that our ef- 
forts have not been in vain, and that eventually 
the great military power of Germany will be 
broken. 

The recent developments in Russia appear to 
be very discouraging, but against the bad news 
from that quarter we have the magnificent co- 
operation of the United States. Her unlimited 
resources in men, money and material — the three 
great M's — will prove to be a factor of the most 
vital importance — that she will throw the entire 
weight of her gigantic power into the task of 



2m WHEN THE SOMME RAN RED 

freeing the world from any risk of the tryranny 
of German domination is certain and Germany 
will most bitterly regret the acts, such as the 
sinking of the Lusitania, which brought America 
into the war. 

In the months that have passed since the days 
of the Somme, I have listened to too much talk. 
I have read even more of what men think. Many 
are too willing and free with their criticism. These 
critics are divided into two classes: destructive 
and constructive. The former by far the larger, 
and they again are divided into two parties : those 
who have entered the service of their country in 
a moment of transient patriotism, filled with de- 
sire to be seen in King's uniform, these may have 
been kept in England owing to their inefficiency 
in some way or other, or they may have gone to 
France, or one of the other fronts, and failed to 
make good. They growl without ceasing, and 
find fault with everything and everybody, espe- 
cially those who, by their greater ability, have at- 
tained higher rank. Nothing is being done right 
and no one who has succeeded in gaining distinc- 
tion is any good at all, so they say. Then the 
other lot are those who sit smugly in their arm 
chairs and tell how the war should be conducted, 
and hov/ and why this or that offensive failed. 



THE PIVOT 286 

They know it all, and their foolish prattle tests 
the patience of all who hear it. For them death 
is almost too good. They are a scourge, and the 
world is not big enough to hold them. Their in- 
solence in criticising the magnificent work that 
is being done makes one's blood boil. Let them 
give up their comforts for a bit and go over to 
France and see what men do. Let them see the 
difficulties that continually confront those who 
are in power out there. Let them taste of the 
Hunnish Horrors, then perhaps they will put a 
seal on their tongues and unlock their minds. 

This is no time for finding fault, for trying 
to undermine the trust of the people in those 
who are making the Herculean efforts that have 
surprised the world. It is time for doing things, 
gi'cat or small according to the individual ability. 
If every one will do his utmost and keep his 
tongue in check, our task will be the easier. We 
shall shorten the days of the war, and will reap 
the benefits for which we have shed our blood 
and treasure. 



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i;- OF A FINISHED PANORAMIC SKETCH BY AUTHOR 
36 sketches are used in conjunction with maps to help in the 
d identification of natural features of the land. This finished 
iramic drawing in color was made as projected from point A 
nap, page 176. It was based on sketch at right made from 
t B. 



ti , 72- 79 



SE RIGHT ORIGINAL PANORAMIC SKETCH BY AUTHOR 
which above finished map in color was based. This sketch 
lade from point B in map shown on page 176. 




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